A sewer mainline broke early Monday morning near Zimovia Highway, spilling 20,000 gallons of raw sewage into Wrangell’s inner harbor.
The break happened near the Zimovia Highway and Case Avenue intersection. The Public Works department was notified about 6:30 a.m.
Crews repaired the break by 11 a.m. Public Works director Amber Al-Haddad said. Spokesman Mark MacIntyre says the Environmental Protection Agency won’t take any immediate action.
“At this point, what we’re really doing is gathering as much of the facts of the case as we can, and then we will be reviewing the case for possible further action including things like enforcement,” MacIntyre said. “At this point, we’re still looking at the facts.”
MacIntntyre says it’s generally best to let the waste dissipate over time.
“A lot of times any attempts to fix the problem, in other words address the sewage in the bay, almost creates more problems than just naturally letting it dissipate.”
Al-Haddad said the EPA told the department today that no further action is required, due to the likelihood of the tide flushing out the wastewater.
She said Public Works will file a report with the EPA.
The 24-hour recreational water advisory for the inner harbor was lifted 11 a.m. Tuesday.
The overflow was a result of two sewage pumps being shut down during repairs. One pump near City Park didn’t overflow. The other pump, which handles all of downtown Wrangell’s sewage, did.
This comes on the heels of Wrangell’s water crisis. The borough assembly declared a local emergency disaster in July as the water plant struggles to keep up with demand for treated water.
