OCEANO, Calif. -- The Central Coast Regional Water Quality Board slapped the South San Luis Obispo Sanitation Department with a $1.1 million fine saying the sewage spill was caused by inadequate preparation and response.
Oceano residents who suffered major damage from the December 2012 floods and the San Luis Obispo Sanitation Department sewage spill say they are still footing the bill for the repairs.
Some of the residents' biggest concern is this will happen again and they want the sanitation district to clean its act up.
Greg Cobb lives right down the street from the sanitation district. His house was hit hard by the December 2012 floods. After two years, he is still rebuilding.
"It's been heartbreaking," says cobb.
"And when we found out the sanitation district seemed to be at fault in contributing to this event it doesn't help matters any."
The Central Coast Regional Water Quality Board slapped the sanitation district with a fine blaming it for inadequate preparation, which caused raw sewage to spill into the Oceano Lagoon, Meadow Creek, Arroyo Grande Creek and the Pacific Ocean.
But some residents say they get stuck with the cost.
"The people that have been affected the most are going to be hit with the fine and it just doesn't make sense," Oceano resident Joe Schacherer.
"Nothing has been done about the flooding problem and when it rains heavy again. It's going to flood again and that's a fact."
Still other residents like Cobb say the fine is appropriate.
"I don't want to see our rates raised," says Cobb."but at the same time, I want to see the sanitation district makes sure their maintenance and emergency procedures are in place so that this never happens again"
Residents say another big problem is that there is no maintenance being done by Public Works or by State Parks to prevent the lagoon from flooding again and some are working to file a lawsuit against the former sanitation district administrator who they say was criminally negligent.
