Big Bear, CA, January 3, 2011, 8:00am – Due to the large amount of rain the Big Bear Valley received last week, the Big Bear Area Wastewater Agency, has been working overtime. According to Joe Hanford, Plant Superintendent of BBARWA, there was a substantial amount of inflow and infiltration from last week’s storm. The flow from the City of Big Bear Lake increased by 260%; the flow from the Big Bear City CSD increased by 430%; and the flow from the Fawnskin area increased by 850%. BBARWA began staffing their facility on 24-hour shifts starting on Sunday December 19th and continued through December 22nd. The main impact occurred on December 22nd, in which a sewer overflow occurred from a manhole located at the corner of Teal Drive and Fairway from 7:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. In that 8.5 hour period approximately 84,100 gallons of sewage diluted with storm water spilled from the sewer system. During that period BBARWA operated two emergency pumps to recapture and collect the diluted sewage. BBARWA was able to successfully capture the majority of the spill, and the sewage was pumped back into their system in a downstream manhole. “Due to the quick response of our staff we were able to eliminate the backup of sewage into nearby homes,” said Hanford. At the BBARWA Governing Board meeting in January, BBARWA staff will be requesting the board consider projects that were identified in the Sewer Master Plan to address the concerns of increased flows.