Crews Clean Up After Massive Sewage Spill
September 19, 2000, 03:45 PM

A half-million gallons of sewage spilled into the Willamette River near Salem in the area's biggest spill of this kind in nearly a decade.

A two-mile section of the river was declared unsafe for swimming.

Anglers were turned away from the area Tuesday. Desmond King said he's frustrated with what appears to be an ongoing problem.

"Every other week there's something getting spilled into the Willamette. What are they going to do about that?" asked King.

Signs nearby warn people: No fishing, no swimming, even touching the water can make you sick. The sewage contains bacteria like e.coli and salmonella. Ingesting the water could cause vomiting and diarrhea.

The sewage flowed into the river over the weekend after a malfunction at a pump station.

A sewage pump failed, back-up pumps failed, even the alarm system failed. The failure allowed the biggest sewage spill in the Salem area in eight years.

What's worse, the spill went undetected until a resident saw sewage bubbling up from a manhole cover.

Tuesday, crews confirmed the pump is back in operation. But it could be weeks before the water is clean.

The state Department of Environmental Quality is overseeing the cleanup efforts.

Officials concede not much can be done to clean the river. "You just basically have to wait until it flushes out," said DEQ spokesman Mark Hamlin.

Construction of a better sewage system may have lead to the spill. Crews have been working on a new pump station for the past year. A wiring mistake in a new alarm circuit most likely let the spill go unnoticed.