Crews with the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District (MSD) and Hunt Vac Services, a private contractor, have completed the cleanup of the sewage overflow that occurred at the Bridgeton Landfill Tuesday afternoon, October 27, 2015. (Over the next few days MSD crews may be in the area cleaning up mud that was left on the roadway by crews that conducted the sewage overflow cleanup; however the cleanup of the sewage overflow is complete.)
Given the surrounding community’s sensitivity to operations at the Bridgeton Landfill, 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 diligent response by the contractor and MSD crews helped to contain the sewage overflow to a relatively small area on Bridgeton Landfill property.
The following is updated information on the chronology of the event that was obtained after interviewing MSD staff involved in the incident and checking logs. This timeline does not change the response, nor does it change the impact on the public’s health or safety during this incident:
- An alarm went off at approximately 2:00 p.m. that indicated a potential problem at the pump station located on Bridgeton Landfill property. At the same time this alarm was received, Bridgeton Landfill staff visibly observed the overflow event and immediately notified MSD staff.
- A technician from MSD arrived at the pump station at 3:00 p.m. At this time it was discovered that the pump station was not operating. The technician immediately took steps to restart the pump station, and had it operating within 15 minutes.
- During the time the pump station was not operating, about 11,000 gallons of sewage overflowed from manhole into a contained ditch on Bridgeton Landfill property.
- The overflow did not go into any area waterways; it was contained on Bridgeton Landfill property.
This pump station, located on Bridgeton Landfill property, takes sewage from Bridgeton Landfill’s pretreatment facility and puts it into a force main that eventually leads to the Bissell Pointe 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.
The cause for why the pump station stopped operating is still not determined. When further information becomes available MSD will share this information with the public.
MSD has taken steps to have the pump station physically monitored 24 hours a day, while a cause to why the pump station stopped operating is being identified.
MSD understands the community’s concerns about the Bridgeton Landfill and its operations. MSD will continue to diligently share further information on this incident as it becomes available.