Pressure line break releases sewage into North Portland wetland

Submitted by KATU Communitie... on Thu, 2009-11-05 18:04

This is a press release courtesy of the Bureau of Environmental Services

A drilling contractor doing geotechnical borings struck a 30-inch sewer main this morning at about 9:30 on North Expo Road near the Portland Expo Center. The resulting sewage release undermined the roadway. North Expo Road is temporarily closed. Emergency road repairs are scheduled to begin tomorrow morning.

The broken pressure line released an estimated 27,000 gallons of sewage into the wetland area south of the Expo Center. The city is developing a plan to clean up the spilled sewage and mitigate impacts to the wetland.

The Bureau of Environmental Services provides city residents with Clean River programs including, water quality protection, wastewater collection and treatment, and sewer installation.

Filed Under:

News

Comments

Submitted by bobdoescare (not verified) on Thu, 2009-11-05 18:15.

Plant a bunch of those trees that eat up sewage.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 2009-11-05 19:25.

I wonder what the name of those trees might be.

Submitted by mesogrumpy (not verified) on Fri, 2009-11-06 08:01.

pooplars

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 2009-11-05 22:49.

Charge the one who was doing the drilling?

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 2009-11-06 09:44.

didn't the locate show that there was something buried in that location?? I would think if they were doing some geotechnical boring that they would have confirmed the area was clear. I would fine the heck out of them for not checking their dig site.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 2009-11-06 13:38.

Where was the sewage destination normally?

Surely not into the river etc untreated?

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 2009-11-06 16:36.

im sure the drilling company had good locates maybe the city located them incorrectly

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 2009-11-07 19:17.

Ya, the city probably had the incorrect drawings. I used to work at BES and often times there are 5+ versions of the same sewer plan. If the contractor doesn't label things in the drawings, or the information isn't field checked...then there can be problems. The city doesn't keep good track of its records and assets and is underemployed right now. I am sure its harder to get work done there now after laying off so many employees.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 2009-11-09 16:43.

Locates are never accurate, the people they have marking are a step above gas pumpers in my book!