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October 17, 2008

Sewage flow stopped

Raw sewage is no longer flowing into the Shenango River from a Mercer County pump station.

For several days, a broken line was dumping as much as 500,000 gallons of untreated waste into the river, according to a Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection spokeswoman.

The problem prompted increased monitoring at the Pennsylvania American Water Co.’s New Castle plant, which obtains drinking water for the city and surrounding communities from the river.

Earlier this week, testing by the water company found no changes in the river’s water quality. Today, Pennsylvania American communications manager Gary Lobaugh confirmed that was still the case.

According to Freda Tarbell, community relations coordinator for the DEP, the spill began Oct. 9 when a main collector line ruptured at the Orangeville Road pump station of the Upper Shenango Valley Water Pollution Control Authority.

Tarbell said authority personnel made repeated “good faith” attempts to repair the line, but it kept blowing out. Eventually, two bypass lines were built to take the flow, which is transported to the city of Sharon’s sewage treatment plant. A second bypass line was necessary, according to Tarbell, because the first was not large enough to handle the flow.

The affected pump station is now being completely bypassed and not in use.

The Upper Shenango Valley authority services residents in Sharpsville and South Pymatuning Township in Pennsylvania and Patagonia and Brookfield in Ohio, Tarbell said.

Although the amount of raw sewage that flowed into the river was difficult to calculate because of the repair attempts and bypass work, Tarbell estimated that at its height, about 500,000 gallons of untreated sewage was flowing into the river in a 24-hour period.

When asked if the DEP was checking for increased contamination in the Shenango that might impact New Castle’s water supply, Tarbell said the agency relies on Pennsylvania American to do the monitoring. The company submits its findings to the state agency.

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