Damage from a massive inundation of the main sewage treatment plant in Los Angeles will take a month or more to repair, the city sanitation department said.
The “nearly catastrophic flooding” of the Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant on July 11 submerged significant areas of the plant and damaged equipment, but it continues treatment through a secondary process, a city statement said Wednesday.
Crews were working continuously to pump out and sanitize facilities, it said.
The city of L.A. said Thursday it would reimburse El Segundo residents suffering from nausea and other symptoms due to odors.
Each affected household can choose to get money for either an air conditioning unit or a hotel room, meals and incidentals.
If a household doesn’t already have air conditioning, they can get up to $600 for a unit 1,000 square feet or smaller, or $1,200 per unit above 1,000 square feet. Households can also choose to be reimbursed for a hotel room up to $182 per day, plus meals and incidentals up to $62 a day per person.
Applications for the program will be available soon at www.lacitysan.org, the city said.
The city of El Segundo said L.A. at first denied its request for financial assistance for those affected.
The plant on a bluff overlooking Santa Monica Bay treats 260 million gallons per day and normally discharges it into the ocean through a pipe that runs 5 miles offshore.
The city said the accident occurred when the plant became inundated with overwhelming quantities of debris that caused a backup and overflow of its headworks facilities.
About 17 million gallons of untreated wastewater flowed down the plant’s internal storm drains and through a 1-mile outfall into the bay.
Water testing along miles of beaches found normal bacterial levels, the city said.
