The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District (MSD) has identified the cause of the sewage overflow that occurred at the Bridgeton Landfill Tuesday afternoon, October 27, 2015.
A technician from MSD discovered the pump station was not operating around 3:00 p.m. after responding to an alarm and being alerted by Bridgeton Landfill staff, who visibly observed the overflow. The pump station stopped operating as a result of a buildup of material that clogged up the valves and other mechanical components within the pump station.
When the sewage overflow was discovered coming out of a manhole near the pump station, MSD took a proactive approach by hiring a contractor to help speed up the work with the containment and cleanup of the sewage overflow. The rapid response by the contractor and MSD crews helped to contain the sewage overflow to a relatively small area on Bridgeton Landfill property.
This pump station, located on Bridgeton Landfill property, takes sewage from Bridgeton Landfill’s pre-treatment facility and puts it into a force main that eventually leads to the Bissell Point Wastewater Treatment Plant located along the Mississippi River.
MSD collected samples from the sewage overflow and sent them to laboratories for testing. The testing will match the testing parameters MSD normally uses for the Bridgeton Landfill and includes metals, organic chemicals, and radionuclides. Given the extensive nature of this testing, full results will not be available until mid-November. Testing results for organic chemicals and metals, which are available now, indicate that the overflow did not pose a threat to public health for these pollutants. When the full results are available, they will be made public.
In addition to 24/7 electronic alarm monitoring, MSD performs monthly inspections of the pump station. As a result of this overflow event, and as a measure designed to lower the risk of a similar event re-occurring, MSD has increased its frequency of inspections for this the pump station to weekly. The most recent inspection prior to this sewage overflow was conducted on October 5, 2015. At that time, no visible signs of an issue were discovered.
MSD understands the community’s concerns about the Bridgeton Landfill and its operations. MSD will continue to publically share further information on this incident as it becomes available.