Salem dumps raw sewage into Willamette

[glassblower]

Salem dumps raw sewage into Willamette

SALEM - Recent heavy rain has forced the city to dump raw sewage into the Willamette River, officials said.
City workers opened diversion gates about 11 p.m. Wednesday after rainwater overloaded the city's sanitary sewer system. The city continued to divert diluted sewage into the river Thursday, said Eric Johnson, wastewater supervisor for the Public Works Department.

Warnings were posted urging people to avoid contact with the river because of potentially high levels of bacteria.

City officials will notify residents when the overflow has ended and bacteria levels return to normal.

The sanitary sewer system is entirely separate from stormwater drains. But sewage is diverted when rainwater gets into the sewer system - through roof pipes in older houses that feed directly into it, through holes in manhole covers and through cracks in more than 660 miles of sewer pipes.

Salem has about six or seven raw sewage overflows each winter. The overflows typically total about 120 million to 160 million gallons, city records show.

So far this winter, about 72 million gallons has gone into the river, not including the latest release, said Paul Eckley, the public works operations manager.

(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[ 01-30-2004, 08:24 PM: Message edited by: glassblower ]

[Fshklr]

another thread here as well.
http://www.ifish.net/ubb/ultimatebb....c;f=1;t=033533

[Mrdorkfish]

I think it's quite obvious that the city of Portland and Salem have taken advantage of high river flows and dumped crap in the river on purpose. They saved money by not treating the water.

MrDorkfish [img]graemlins/dork.gif[/img]

Louis

[glassblower]

Mr.DF I think you might be onto somthing there...

[GOT2FISH]

Would anybody expect anything other than this to come out of Salem ever?

[WaterDog]

Instead of having your own sewage spill of the mouth, maybe you should try and to E-D-U-C-A-T-E yourselves. [img]graemlins/idea.gif[/img]

Portland Projects
DEQ CSO Fact sheet

Of course that would require effort which is harder than complaining.

[img]graemlins/lurk.gif[/img]

[Wood N' Fish]

Waterdog--You the man! Thanks for the information. I have been like most---"quick to point the finger." LEARNED SOMETHING TONIGHT-----THANKS IFISH! "WATERDOG"

The Salem plant prides it's self in its quality opperation. They just can't handle the storm drain runnoff. There is plans to build a bigger system soon.

I chewed the maintenance managers butt for this anyway :grin:

[WaterDog]

Sorry for the attitude, but I had this battle last year. Some got it, many more didn't. I make my living trying to keep this from happening in my little corner of the valley. You can't just "fix it" over night when parts of your collections system is 100+ years old.

Remember, Portland is spending a couple BILLION dollars. That's with a B!!!!

Sorry Pete, I couldn't help it.

[Paddlefish]

WaterDog:

Right on, as usual. [img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img]

A little knowledge sure doesn't hurt, and I knew we could get the straight poop from you! :grin:

And, Keta, now our day is complete; you got the chanced to chew somebody's butt.

Seriously, I'm not wildly glad to hear about sewage dumps in the rivers I love best, but I understand high river flow dilution, I'm having patience with the CSO project process, and I still remember plunking the Willamette at Clackamette in the 60s, when we had to haul in our lines every 20 minutes to clear off the accumulated brown gunk, which made them look like pulp-and-poop clotheslines. [img]graemlins/eek13.gif[/img]

It's not yet perfect, but it's a lot better than it was -- and this with twice as many of us flushing every day.

[ 01-30-2004, 10:24 PM: Message edited by: Paddlefish ]