OAKRIDGE, Ore. — The City of Oakridge continues repair work after announcing a sanitary sewer overflow on Wednesday.
Around 8 a.m. on June 3, the overflow was discovered, “threatening life and property,” the City of Oakridge stated in a Thursday letter from James Cleavenger, the Oakridge city administrator, addressed to the Lane County Office of Emergency Management.
The city declared a state of emergency.
According to the letter, the sanitary overflow was found to cause wastewater to drain into a storm drain spillway that feeds into the Middle Fork Willamette River. The drinking water provided by the City was unaffected and safe to use, the City said; however, “environmental risks and compromise of downstream water of the river remain unknown.”
Oakridge declares emergency, seeks county and state help after sewer overflow
The geographic boundaries of the sanitary sewer overflow into the river is east of Fairy Glenn Drive and south of Berry Street.
The active repair site of the broken stormwater pipe is located north of Highway 58, between the Orchid Clinic and the A&W-Subway building. Oakridge Public Works will be working on-site to repair the broken storm line, the letter stated.
Cleavenger’s letter concluded with the following:
WE DO HEREBY DECLARE THAT A STATE OF EMERGENCY NOW EXISTS IN THE CITY OF OAKRIDGE AND THAT THE CITY HAS EXPENDED OR WILL SHORTLY EXPEND ITS NECESSARY AND AVAILABLE RESOURCES. WE RESPECTIVELY REQUEST THAT THE COUNTY PROVIDE ASSISTANCE, CONSIDER THE CITY AN “EMERGENCY AREA” AS PROVIDED FOR IN ORS 401, AND, AS APPROPRIATE, REQUEST SUPPORT FROM STATE AGENCIES AND/OR THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.
We spoke with Oakridge Public Works on Thursday, which said the overflow is not a pipeline break.
Instead, they said a blockage in the pipe led to a backup of sewage that spilled through a sewer bypass, overflowing into the river.
Public Works says it’s working to clear the blockage and clean up the river and make sure this doesn’t happen again.
“We are eliminating it as we speak. We have exposed the pipe,” said Oakridge Maintenance Supervisor Robeart Chrisman. “We are filling the overflow bypass pipe full of concrete, and then we’re going to dig it up at the sewer line, and we’re going to plug the hole, the bypass hole in the sewer line, so it will not happen again.”
We also asked how far downstream the contamination traveled and Public Works tells us it is unlikely to be able to gather a solid estimate.
In the meantime, crews are working to remove the sewage along with algae growth in the area.
Public Works says there is no risk for contamination in the drinking water – but that people and their pets should avoid the river until further notice.
There is no current estimate of when cleanup will be complete.