Raw sewage, 28,000 gallons of it, on Monday flowed into a Fanno Creek tributary thanks to a blocked sewer line on Southwest Shattuck Road, according to this Oregonian article. The city’s Bureau of Environmental Services reports the raw sewage flowed out of a manhole starting around 3 p.m. and wasn’t stopped until about 8 p.m.
It’s been a poo-filled month, with heavy rains causing sewer overflows throughout Portland last week, as reported by the Mercury.
The Big Pipe Project reduced the number of fecal floods in Portland from between 50 and 100 per year to between five and 10 per year, so Portlanders don’t often have reason to think about where their poo goes (until it goes in Fanno Creek or otherwise makes its presence known). But if you wondered, check out this classic Mercury article with the very appropriate title, “Where Does My Poop Go?”
The Environmental Protection Agency says sewage overflows are “the largest category” of the United States’ wastewater disposal system that still needs to be address, and studies have found that hospital visits for gastrointestinal distress rise after heavy rains like the ones we’ve been having. Don’t take your straw to Fanno Creek.
Speaking of rain, meteorologists are predicting steady rain beginning Wednesday and continuing through at least the weekend.