Pressurized pipe break led to Framingham sewage spill, city officials state
August 01, 2024
by Jesse Collings | Aug 1, 2024 | The MetroWest Daily News
FRAMINGHAM—The sewage overflow that sent an estimated 675,000 gallons of wastewater into the area near the Sudbury River in Framingham was caused by a break in a pressurized sewer pipe, according to a city official.
Stephen Leone, Framingham’s director of water and wastewater, told the Daily News that the overflow, called a sanitary sewer overflow (SSO), occurred due to a break at the Center Pump Station on Worcester Road.
“The sewer system overflow was a result of a break in the pressurized sewer pipe (also called a force main) that leaves a wastewater pump station located on Worcester Road,” Leone said in a statement. “Work is being performed at the Center (Worcester Road) Pump Station. The break in the force main occurred outside the work zone of the project.”
Earlier: Sewer overflow in Framingham releases 675,000 gallons of wastewater near Sudbury River.
The Center Pump Station is currently undergoing a renovation as part of a long-term city project. The station is on Worcester Road (Route 9/30 East), immediately east of a bridge that spans the Sudbury River and handles more than 25% of all wastewater that flows throughout the city.
Leone said the break occurred on city-owned property just south of the pump station and near the historic Dexter Hemenway House, at 72 Main Street but on the opposite side of the Sudbury River.
“The location of the pipe break was on a property owned by the City of Framingham,” he said. “The property spans between Worcester Road and Main Street, Framingham. The break occurred off the roadway in a wooded area of the property between 72 Main Street and 74 Main Street.”
The city previously reported that the overflow began about 4:30 PM Tuesday and was not stopped until 9 P< that evening. During that time, an estimated 675,000 gallons of raw sewage flowed out of the system. Due to the incident’s proximity to the Sudbury River, officials are concerned that sewage leaked into the waterway.
Concerns expressed about incident’s environmental impact
The city issued a notice Tuesday evening that residents should avoid any contact with the Sudbury River for 48 hours due to possible contamination. A similar notice was put out in neighboring Wayland.
Leone said the reason it took about four-and-a-half hours to stop the flow of sewage is because the flow does not stop until the upstream flow of the sewage can be successfully diverted from the broken pipe through pumping trucks. That requires trucks to be deployed at multiple key sites before the flow can be turned off.
“Stopping the SSO required the upstream flows from the sewer system to be pumped into trucks and hauled away,” Leone said. “Multiple sewage pumping trucks were secured by the city and deployed. Once flows upstream of the pipe break were successfully managed, the broken pipe was repaired, and the pump station resumed normal operation.”
An official from OARS, a local conservation group that oversees the Sudbury River, expressed concern Wednesday about the negative impact the spill would have on what had previously been a waterway that saw improving quality.
“We do a fair amount of bacteria testing to check for raw sewage in the rivers, and for a number of years, we’ve done testing downstream of this site in Wayland and Saxonville, and generally, we’ve found that the water quality is very good at those sites,” said Ben Wetherill, a water quality specialist with OARS. “So this is a big hit because our data has shown that the downstream section is basically swimmable most of the time.”
Leone said the city is currently working on a plan to best mitigate the environmental impact.
“Department of Public Works, Conservation Department and Health Department are working together to implement mitigation measures to address environmental impacts to the Sudbury River,” he said. “The city’s Health Department also issued an advisory for the Sudbury River yesterday (Wednesday) morning prohibiting swimming, fishing and other recreational activities.”
Published in The MetroWest Daily News on Aug 1, 2024: Link to published story