Raw sewage flowing into Feeder Canal in GF; SGF declares emergency

The “force main” sewage pipe from South Glens Falls to the Glens Falls collection system has broken underneath the Route 9 Feeder Canal Bridge, discharging an estimated 180 gallons per minute of untreated sewage into the Feeder Canal, a Glens Falls Wastewater Treatment Plant notification said.

A post from the Village of South Glens Falls said the break occurred at “Oakland Avenue in the City of Glens Falls into the Feeder Canal.”

The Village of South Glens Falls declared a State of Emergency at 10:15 a.m. due to the sewer main break.

“This situation threatens the public safety,” the emergency declaration said. “This State of Emergency will remain in effect for 30 days or until rescinded by a subsequent order.”

“There’s no danger to the public,” Village Trustee Claude Middleton, who was on the scene Thursday afternoon tells The Chronicle.

“There’s no affiliation with the water system and the sewage. There would be no way for this to percolate into the water system.”

Mr. Middleton, who serves on the Village Water and Sewer committee said, “Even though this is on the Glens Falls side this is our sewage line. We’re responsible for the repair.”

The line runs from a pump station in a red barn visible on the South Glens Falls side of the Hudson River. The pipes go under the Route 9 bridge, crossing east when they get to the Feeder Canal on the Glens Falls side.

Currently, Mr. Middleton said, “We have septic trucks on a cycle, running through from the pump station up to the treatment facility — where it would wind up anyway — but we are just doing it in a ’round the clock method.

Friday afternoon, crews were putting up barriers to close the pedestrian sidewalk on the west side of the bridge and to make room for Kubricky Construction to begin the repair work.

First, they’ll lower three small barges by crane onto the canal on the Finch Paper side, near the broken pipe. They’ll work from those barges to install temporary pipes, Mr. Middleton said.

“Once we get the temporary in, we can start the flow again of the sewage.” Then they’ll begin to repair the main line.

“This is definitely not an overnight process.”

The break was discovered by a pedestrian walking across the bridge, who noticed the odor of sewage.

“He lives in South Glens Falls and is familiar with the sewer system. He called our Department of Public Works Superintendent who in turn came down.

“As soon as we saw it we contacted the Department of Environmental Conservation. Second step was to declare a state of emergency, which we did as soon as we knew about it.”

“We have no idea how long the sewage was flowing,” Mr. Middleton said.

Will the canal need to be dredged? “We haven’t even got to that stage. Have to wait for EnCon to see if that’s what we need to do.”