City Repairing Pipe that Leaked Into Stony Run

Repairs to an eight-inch sewer pipe that resulted in thousands of gallons of sewage gushing into the Stony Run are expected to last for the better part of next week.

Kurt Kocher, a spokesman for the Department of Public Works, estimated as much as 28,000 gallons could have seeped into the stream between the time the pipe broke and the leak was stopped.

He said that the department takes every overflow seriously, but that this leak was small in comparison to some overflows the city has experienced. 

"We’ve had overflows that we’re tremendous [in size], this was not one of them," Kocher said.

The broken pipe was not in the stream but near the intersection of University Parkway and West 39th Street, and the overflow then discharged into the stream via a nearby storm drain.

The overflow was discovered at about 10:30 a.m., Thursday and city workers stopped the flow into the stream with bypass piping by about 7:30 that evening.  At one time the flow of sewage into the stream was estimated to be between 50 and 100 gallons a minute.

City workers have been putting up signs, which are put near every city stream but are often stolen or destroyed, reminding people that urban streams are polluted and that they should avoid contact with the water, Kocher said.

The cause of the pipe break is still under investigation.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly listed the location of the broken sewer pipe.