ESP Calls on City to Install Split Sewer System Not the Vault

East Sacramento Preservation Neighborhood Association opposes the city’s proposed water vault solution for flooding in McKinley Park and calls on the City of Sacramento to install split sewer systems throughout the city. A modern, growing city like Sacramento must do this. We are one of only three cities on the west coast that has not up dated its system. Even significantly older municipalities in the north east United States are undertaking this task.

Council Member Harris and the city are pushing to excavate a 25 to 30 feet deep sewer/water tank to be placed in 3.2 acres of McKinley Park. The project will take about three years and will disrupt traffic, quality of life, and safety of neighbors. Not to mention the impact on recreational users. Joggers, picnicking families, strolling moms and their infants, and many walkers from throughout Sacramento will be displaced. McKinley Park is the most heavily used and greatly loved park in the city.

The vault would hold the overflow runoff and sewage on rainy days, so some streets don’t flood, but its capacity during major storms is not proven.  Sacramento needs updated, split sewer systems in all the neighborhoods throughout the city.

In split sewer systems, the waste flows from household plumbing pipes to a dedicated sewer line that connects to the water treatment plant. At the plant the waste is cleaned out and the water is ready to be processed into potable water. The plant discharges any excess, sewage-free water, into the river. The key to this design is the separate, dedicated pipe that takes sewage to treatment plants. The storm drains connect to a separate pipe that carries rainwater and runoff to the river. Unfortunately, our East Sacramento and other older neighborhoods, sprinkled throughout the city, rely on a very old combined system.,

Historic McKinley Park is the most highly used neighborhood park in Sacramento. Thousands and thousands of people from throughout the city recreate, marry, eat, play and relax on its green lawns. The baseball field (slated for destruction) is one of the few left in East Sacramento.  The building of the vault is a huge disruption and not necessary. It’s a patch.

Do the right thing. Replace the system to a split system, over time. Spread out the construction and the cost, like the water meter project, and bring our city into the modern age, like the rest of the country.

Do the right thing.