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Equipment Failure Causes Glen Road Sewage Spill

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Equipment Failure Causes Glen Road Sewage Spill

By Andrew Gorosko

An equipment malfunction in the municipal sanitary sewer system on the morning of June 27 caused sewage to back up from a manhole onto Glen Road, near the Dayton Street bridge, officials said this week.

At 6:53 am, Sandy Hook firefighters were dispatched to the area to deal with a hazardous condition in the form of wastewater, known as “graywater,” bubbling up from the holes in a manhole cover on Glen Road. The spill involved an estimated 150 gallons of sewage.

Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire and Rescue Company Chief Bill Halstead said firefighters took steps to prevent the sewage from entering the nearby Pootatuck River. Chief Halstead said he alerted the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) of the sewage spill.

The town sent a truckload of road sand to the scene to build a dike to contain the sewage, if needed, but dike construction was unnecessary, Chief Halstead said.

It is unclear when the sewage spill started, the fire chief said. The rate of sewage flow from the manhole subsided after firefighters arrived at the scene, he said.

David Bratz, the town’s deputy public works director, said that a switch, known as an electronic pump controller, failed, resulting in the sewage backing up from the manhole.

A pump in a nearby sewage pumping station, which is located near the intersection of Glen Road and Church Hill Road, did not automatically turn itself on to pump sewage when it should have turned itself on, and thus the wastewater bubbled out from the terminus of the sewer system at the Glen Road manhole, Mr Bratz said.

The failed equipment was replaced later that morning and the sewer system resumed normal operation, Mr Bratz said.

Town Health Director Donna McCarthy said that quickly containing spilled sewage is important from a public health standpoint. Such sewage spills are infrequent because many safety features are incorporated into the municipal sewer system, she said.

DEP spokesman Matt Fritz said the incident amounted to a relatively small sewage spill, which was quickly contained.

Sewage discharged from addresses in Sandy Hook Center drains downward by gravity to the sewage pumping station. From the pumping station, the sewage is then pumped upward through pressurized mains to a point from which the wastewater drains downward by gravity to the sewage treatment plant on Commerce Road for disposal.

The town started operation of the $32 million municipal sewer system in September 1997 to resolve groundwater pollution problems caused by failing septic systems.

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