Press Release Unintended Sewage Discharge in South Santiam River

UNINTENDED SEWAGE DISCHARGE IN SOUTH SANTIAM RIVER

This morning, due to the large storm event from the prior evening, approximately 125,000 gallons of partially treated sewage was discharged to the South Santiam River.  This unintended discharge was due to the extreme weather event.  The Sewer Treatment Plant has been operating on emergency backup power due to the power outage that began at 10:00 p.m. last evening.  The Sewer Treatment Plant is still operating on back-up generators; however, the City has the situation under control to hopefully avoid any future discharge.

 

The public should avoid contact in the South Santiam River downstream of the Sewer Treatment Plant for the next several days.  The City is in contact with DEQ and will be sampling up and down stream for bacterial analysis to identify when levels are back to within an acceptable range, and the City will issue a press release when it is safe to resume activities in the river.

For questions, please contact Ron Whitlatch at (541) 258-4269.