Rural Alaska

Wrangell pipe break causes 20,000-gallon sewage spill into harbor

Thousands of gallons of raw sewage were discharged into Wrangell's harbor Monday during repairs to a broken sewer main in the Southeast Alaska city.

According to the City and Borough of Wrangell's Facebook page, the broken main near a sewage processing plant was repaired and back in service by 11 a.m. Monday. The 20,000-gallon discharge into Wrangell's Inner Harbor occurred as a consequence of that work.

"To fix the break we will have to shut down the pump station near the power plant, which will cause the overflow into the harbor," local officials wrote.

Amber Al-Haddad, Wrangell's director of public works, said Tuesday afternoon that the source of the break — a fracture in a ductile iron pipe — was "a little surprising" given industry expectations for its durability.

"We've seen a lot of corrosion on our ductile iron pipe over the last few years," Al-Haddad said. "When we installed the pipe we were told it would be good for 50 years, but they've been (corroding) after 15, 20 years."

The sewage spilled from a holding area after the pump-station shutdown.

"That's also a pump station that receives raw sewage from the rest of town; of course, you can't stop that flowing," Al-Haddad said. "Over the course of time, it did reach its overflow point and the wastewater did flow into the harbor."

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After exposing the affected section of the sewer main, which had been in the ground for about 20 years, workers found an 8-inch gap in the pipe. The section was repaired with a band and covered again.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation as well as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency were notified of the discharge, Wrangell officials said on Facebook.

[Wrangell's water shortage triggers local disaster declaration]

EPA spokesman Mark MacIntyre said in an email that Wrangell authorities notified the agency at about 11:15 a.m. Monday that "the break in the line had been repaired, that it was likely there was sewage in the harbor and that the public had been notified."

Al-Haddad said other causes for Monday's break remain under consideration, including potential damage from the later placement of a 4-inch pipe near the affected sewer main.

The city is seeking funds to gradually replace its water mains, with some currently being upgraded under a loan from DEC.

In the meantime, Al-Haddad said, local officials don't expect further issues with Wrangell's sewer lines.

"We don't anticipate any," Al-Haddad said. "We just hope the remainder of the system is in good shape."

Although Wrangell's drinking water system wasn't affected by the break, the city had asked residents to conserve water on Monday morning. A 24-hour precautionary recreational water advisory, affecting "all water-related recreational activities in the water bodies near Wrangell's downtown," was in effect until 11 a.m. Tuesday.

Chris Klint

Chris Klint is a former ADN reporter who covered breaking news.

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