Health crisis
As the sewage flowed into the ocean, officials scrambled to inform the necessary agencies — but it would take nearly a full day before full notifications to the public happened.
That delay upset local residents and critics as much as the spill itself.
“The failure to get that done raised questions for me,” Hahn said, “and the public deserves to know the answers.”
The L.A. County Department of Public Health’s Environmental Health Program was contacted at 8:11 p.m., just one minute after plant managers reported the spill to the state Office of Emergency Services. A “strike team” of two inspectors from the health department was dispatched to Hyperion within minutes.
And by 9:48 p.m. Sunday, it was clear a major incident was underway, the report said. But, the report added, that wasn’t communicated clearly.
“At this point, as plant executive managers were in the midst of saving the plant,” the report said, “some of the information from plant shift supervisors was inconsistent in details, but to anyone familiar with the plant, an extraordinary event was underway.”
In the critical hours following the spill, communication was spotty and may not have fully conveyed the gravity of the situation at a time when a coordinated response was most needed, according to the report.
Understanding the scope of the crisis was hindered by several mishaps, the report said, including unanswered phone calls, a generic email about the incident going up the Public Health Department’s chain of command, officials in roles for which they were not trained, and a lack of backup systems to ensure information was communicated correctly.
“As EH Program upper management started their work week with normal meetings and dozens of emails, there was only partial notice of the plant incident,” the report said. “Not until late morning as more agencies contacted the EH Program, did executive management understand what occurred, at what magnitude.”
LA Sanitation & Environment also seemed to place the burden on the county health department
“A County Department of Public Health inspector was on-site (not indoors) almost immediately,” its statement said, “and saw for herself the severity of the exterior overflow situation while the discharge was occurring.”
Barbara Ferrer, the county’s public health director, acknowledged her agency’s failures in responding to the spill and apologized during Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting.
“I want to apologize to the board and the public for our failures at the Department of Public Health for not responding to this appropriately,” Ferrer said. “There aren’t any excuses. There were multiple failures. Most have already been fixed.”