Stege Sanitary District Celebrates 100 Years of Service

From a Stege Sanitary District press release:

Stege Sanitary District is hosting an open house to celebrate the district’s 100 anniversary this year.

See sewer maintenance equipment like the sewer rodder trucks, sewer hydro jetter truck, video inspection van, and a newly-purchased Combination Water Jetting and Vacuum System Sewer Cleaning Truck; talk with District board members and staff; enjoy music, food, and a see display of the entries in the 100th Anniversary Poster/Logo Contest. The event will be held on Saturday, May 18, from 1-4 p.m. at the district headquarters, 7500 Schmidt Lane, El Cerrito.

Stege Sanitary District, incorporated in 1913 (four years before the City of El Cerrito incorporated) and is one of the oldest special districts in the Bay Area.

The district got its start when a handful of residents, realizing that the largely undeveloped area just north of the Alameda-Contra Costa county line would remain undeveloped unless there were sewers, campaigned to get some. Led by William Huber, the group proposed creating a special district to fund and build sewers.

They brought the matter before the 285 voters who lived in Rust, Stege, and nearby unincorporated communities and in May 1913, on a vote of 205 to eight, Stege Sanitary District was formed and its five original directors, including Huber, elected. The district, about 3,000 acres at its founding, covered what today is El Cerrito, Kensington and part of the Richmond Annex. 

Stege began buildings sewers in 1914. Residential development boomed in most parts of the district. Often, Stege couldn’t get its pipes in fast enough for home builders. Stege enforced sanitary rules, requiring residents to connect to sewer pipes, rather than dispose of their wastes in septic tanks.

As the area developed, Stege also grew. Today, it covers 5.5 square miles.

More recently, over the past three decades, Stege has become a leader in meeting the challenges of recent water quality rules that require sewer districts to reduce “infiltration and inflow” of rainwater into their lines to reduce pollution during wet weather.

Stege’s innovative strategy of replacing all mains and private laterals in the area with the greatest problems and other techniques for preventive maintenance have won the district many industry awards.

Call Stege Sanitary District at (510) 524-4668 for more information.