Raw Sewage Taints Local Stream

A funky smell emanating from a stream near the was caused by raw sewage overflowing from a clogged pipe.

The smell and murky waters in the back-channel stream that feeds into the Chartiers Creek and divides Bridgeville and Collier became overbearing earlier this month and prompted state and county workers to investigate the issue.

Guillermo Cole, a spokesman for the Allegheny County Health Department, said several 5-foot-long logs were purposefully placed into a discharge pipe, causing raw sewage to overflow. Cole said the logs were removed from the pipeline on June 3 and rainwater runoff and sewage is flowing normally again.

“It had to be vandalism,” Cole said. “There’s no way someone could dump logs this size down your toilet.”

Cole said the overflow likely affected aquatic wildlife, but he could not say to what extent. Workers tried to decontaminate portions of the banks, but the smell will persist until the area is doused with heavy rain. A pungent smell could still easily be detected in the area as of Wednesday afternoon.

“It’s going to take a while because we haven’t had much rain in the past week,” Cole said. “We need some significant rainfall to flush the creek.”

The state Department of Environmental Protection was notified of the problem on June 1 and worked with the county to fix the problem.

Kevin Sunday, a spokesman for the DEP, said it is not unusual to have some additional sewage discharge, but not to the level that had been happening there recently. He said the DEP and county will continue to monitor the situation.

“It appears (local authorities) responded appropriately,” Sunday said. “Obviously, it keeps happening, that’s a different story.”