SALEM, Ore. — The city of Salem warned people to avoid contact with water in the Willamette River, Shelton Ditch and Pringle Creek on Friday due to potentially high levels of bacteria from sewage overflowing into waterways.
The recent snowmelt, followed by rainfall and saturated ground conditions, have caused more than 46,600 gallons of sewage to overflow into the three waterways, the city said. This can occur when the groundwater enters the sewage system from cracks and holes in pipes and other sources of extraneous water from private property, exceeding the ability for the system to transfer sewage to the water pollution control facility.
The city estimates that around 22,000 gallons of sewage was discharged into the Willamette River, 24,335 gallons into Shelton Ditch and 306 gallons into Pringle Creek.
One of the discharges was from an authorized overflow relief location near Union and Church Street into the Willamette. The others occurred from manholes around 1100 and 885 Airport Road Southeast and at 4391 Nalani Court Southeast.
The overflow into Shelton Ditch was caused by a debris jam of grease and rags, which wastewater operations field staff quickly cleared, according to the city. The spot where the third overflow occurred into Pringle Creek had been previously identified as having capacity concerns and was on an engineering project list to address.
Both the Willow Lake Wastewater Treatment Facility and the River Road Wet Weather Treatment Facility had been operating at their maximum treatment capacity during the heavy rain event, the city said.
Water quality samples will continue to be taken from the Willamette River, Shelton Ditch and Pringle Creek until the risk of potentially high levels of bacteria have been cleared. Warning sign around the waterways will be removed once levels return to normal.
Editor's note: A previous version of this story reported that Mill Race Creek was impacted by overflow instead of Shelton Ditch. The city of Salem later corrected its initial statement.
