Broken Pipe Dumps 150,000 Gallons of Sewage Into Maine’s Kennebec River

Longtime residents of Central Maine can tell you stories of when the mighty Kennebec River was horribly polluted.

For decades, in the 19th and 20th centuries, the mills along the river dumped tons of chemicals and waste into the river.  This dumping was not a malicious act.  Sadly, it is just how things were done back then.

These days, thanks to a lengthy cleanup process, the Kennebec River is nearly pristine.

However, occasionally, incidents still happen.

According to an article on the WGME website, in October, a leak in a sewage pipe dumped about 150,000 gallons of sewage into the Kennebec River.

The article explains that, on October 22nd, pipe workers on a barge in the river bumped a pipe that carries sewage from Winslow to a water treatment plant in Waterville.  It reportedly took about 30 hours for the pipe to be fixed.  In the time between the damage being done and the completion of the repair, about 150,000 gallons of sewage leaked into the river.

The damage reportedly happened while finishing touches were being put on new sewage pipes.  Even though that work has reportedly been completed, there is no word on when transfer will be switched to the new pipes.

You may be wondering why, if it took nearly a day and a half to fix the leak, that they continued to pump sewage through the pipe.  According to the people interviewed by WGME, it was because only about 10% of what was coming through the pipe leaked.

Knowing that information I did some quick math to determine just how much sewage is pumped from Winslow to Waterville each day.  It appears that about 1.2 million gallons of pee, poo, and everything else is flushed away in Winslow each day.  Wow!