An estimated 3,000 gallons of untreated wastewater escaped from a broken sewer pipe near Cayuga Inlet in Ithaca on Tuesday. The Ithaca Area Wastewater Treatment Facility says the discharge has ended and the hole in the pipe has been repaired with a clamp.
The facility reported the end of the discharge in an NY Alert notice issued at 8:41 a.m. Wednesday. It said the release began around 7 a.m. Sept. 22 near 608 S. Meadow St. and lasted about 4.5 hours.
The untreated wastewater bubbled to the surface in the grassy strip along the road, where officials reported an odor and debris. The notice identifies Cayuga Inlet as the affected waterbody and lists a nearby fishing area and a small tributary of the inlet as potentially impacted public areas.
The facility attributed the discharge to a hole in a sewer pipe. Its final notice says the hole was repaired with a pipe repair clamp.
An initial notice estimated the flow at 500 gallons per minute. The final notice instead estimates the total discharge at 3,000 gallons. NY Alert did not explain the difference between those figures.
During the response, crews stationed a vacuum truck at the Wood Street pump station to remove wastewater from the wet well and reduce the need to run pumps. Local septic haulers were contacted to help pump out the Wood Street, Cherry Street and Fairgrounds Memorial pump stations to prevent wastewater from backing into the line.
The termination notice does not provide test results or say whether access to the fishing area or tributary is restricted.
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