WLKM Radio 95.9 FM
The Three Rivers Waste Water Treatment Plant received notice Wednesday evening that the pipeline servicing the village of Constantine was discharging raw sewage into a ditch.
The incident occurred at the intersection of southbound U.S. 131 and the newly constructed U.S. 131 bypass. City staff arrived shortly before 8 o’clock and found the discharge was from a newly installed air-release valve.
Treatment Plant Superintendent James Baker said the valve experienced an isolated failure and was taken out of service.
The initial estimated volume of the discharge is in excess of 21000 gallons. The city of Three Rivers and an environmental contractor worked through the night to recover 7,000 gallons of raw sewage, which was then hauled to the treatment plant.
The balance of the waste soaked into the new roadbed and ditches of the bypass. There was no discharge to surface waters and the MDEQ has been notified, according to Baker.
