Second sanitary sewer overflow

Three Rivers Wastewater Treatment Plant personnel have reported another sanitary sewer overflow from a village of Constantine air-release valve last week along U.S. 131.
The incident Thursday night was the second such occurrence over a two-day period.
The latest situation took place about a quarter-mile south of Withers Road, along the west side of the highway. St. Joseph County Central Dispatch notified treatment plant personnel that a passerby observed smelly water coming from the vent pipe shortly before 8 p.m.
Doug Humbert, wastewater plant supervisor, said personnel responded quickly to shut-down the forcemain.
The flow from the vent pipe had ceased less than an hour later.
Humbert estimated that about 800 gallons of raw sewage were released to the roadside. The company Clean Earth dispatched a truck and crew to power-wash and vacuum raw sewage from the ground surface; no surface water was contaminated.
The malfunctioning air-release valve is to be removed, inspected and repaired or replaced as soon as practical, according to Humbert.