NEWBURGH – A 20-inch sewer main, that broke last Sunday night, spewing 1,200 gallons of raw waste per hour down the bluff at Liberty Street and Bay View Terrace for hours, continues to keep city crews busy 24-hours a day repairing it.
The rush of sewage quickly eroded the hillside.
Those city employees were able to install a temporary bypass, which meant no interruption of service to city residents.
City Manager Joe Donat expects the repair work on the 90-year-old clay pipe to last well into this coming weekend.
“What we are looking to go is reestablish the proper connectivity, the permanent connectivity, and in that process we are going to fortify that hillside and during that, we will determine whether a retaining wall is needed. There will likely be several hundred tons of stone used to serve that purpose, and obviously, if there is a need for an additional retaining wall, we will most certainly utilize that,” Donat said.
The city manager said fortunately, none of the sewage ran into the watershed area.
