A collapsing coastal bluff is imperiling a key part of San Clemente’s sewer system, the Linda Lane pump station, like never before. Ten years ago, the city put up a retainer wall to guard the pump station. An active, ever-encroaching landslide has since forced San Clemente to scale the wall up to 8 feet in height and reinforce it with raker system supports. Despite all efforts, the slow-moving landslide has breached the wall around the pump station and the city now faces the threat of a sewer spill. The San Clemente City Council on Tuesday weighed whether to approve a $2.3-million emergency contract to armor the pump station with caissons and tiebacks before the arrival of significant rainstorms or gamble by delaying the project for a few months to solicit competitive bids. … According to a city staff report, the pump station and beach trunk sewer line transport about a million gallons of raw wastewater every day to San Clemente’s water reclamation plant to be treated.

Other local water infrastructure news:

• CBS Sacramento (Calif.): New Placer County water treatment plant breaks ground, will serve Colfax to Applegate​
• KCRA (Sacramento, Calif.): Century-old Tracy pump station faces critical failures, threatening water supply​