City Working 24/7 to Repair Damaged Sewer Station [VIDEO]
Jeff Anderson, Deputy Director of Shreveport's Department of Water and Sewerage, talks with 101.7 / 710 KEEL's Robert J Wright and Erin McCarty about the recent news that the city is pumping raw sewerage into the Red River.
Anderson explains that a problem with the Stoner Water Main is causing the difficulties. Anderson added that it should take about week to repair the Stoner main, but while those are underway raw sewage will be pumped directly into the river near the Stoner launch.
And more information from the Mayor's Communications Director, Ben Riggs:
"The current Red River Hydrograph shows over 87,000 cubic feet of water passing by per second, which is approximately 56 billion gallons per day. The amount of sewer being released to the Red River accounts for less than 0.01% of the stream flow. As a result, the fecal coliform count goes from 32,000 at the Stoner Boat Launch down to 1,500 at the Shreveport-Barksdale bridge, and by time it reaches the Jimmy Davis Bridge, it is practically undetectable from background.
The backups to smaller bodies of water are being isolated and returned to the system where possible. When this is not possible, we are providing as much aeration to the water bodies as possible, mainly through introducing water from flowing hydrants to the smaller water bodies. This helps with the natural processes in these waterbodies that naturally break down the wastes. The rains today will also assist to naturally aerate and dilute the waste in the smaller water bodies. Additionally, for the areas we are running multiple vac-trucks around the clock removing sewer from areas where overflows are occurring and trucking it directly to our waste treatment plant."