Valley Creek Sewer Break

With all due respect, why sue? It's aging infrastructure, sh!t happens. Why throw lawsuits on top of the already enormous costs of replacing/updating this stuff. I certainly don't understand everything at play or how all this works, just don't see why there always has to be a lawsuit for an accident. Maybe to motivate people to replace old sewer lines? Just wondering what the point is.

This really sucks though for those who fish that stretch. Hopefully things are back to normal in a few years (assuming there actually is a total kill- has that been observed yet?).
 
It's aging infrastructure, sh!t happens.
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You can say that again. Hope those that are repairing it really know their sh!t.

Ah jeez, these jokes could go on for ages.

Agree on the "why sue" aspect. Sue who? The municipality runs the sewage system? i.e. funded with tax money. So the local residents sue themselves? Or outsiders sue them so that they have less money available to put into infrastructure?

It's a real shame. And yeah, you have to move the outflow upstream or else you can't fix the thing when it's running. Just do it and get it done with ASAP. Pray the stream handles it ok. Make sure we do all that can be done with cleanup. And, since this has happened before, perhaps in the longer term we need to put a priority on some infrastructure upgrades in that area.
 
Valley Creek cured the cabin fever several times this winter. as if once wasn't bad enough this winter.
 
Yeah you guys are right, don't sue them, we'll just allow them to handle the situation in a terrible manner over and over and over again and shrug our shoulders. They diverted the sewage a mile upstream instead of letting it flow from the break point down? If thats not complete disrespect and disregard for the steam i dunno what is

They should be sued for as much money as possible along with the threat that next time this happens they will be sued for maximum dollar amount again, and next time it happens, sued for as much as possible again, until they understand that it'd be in their best interest financially to fix the problem. Clearly they are just cheaping out with half *** fixes hence the repeated issues. Sometimes you gotta make people do the right, most of the time actually and this is no different
 
They diverted the sewage a mile upstream instead of letting it flow from the break point down?
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Exactly how would YOU fix a broken pipe that still had water flowing in it?? You don't just dig a 5,000,000 gallon hole and put sewage into it. Also, it was flowing at 5,000 gallons/minute. At that rate it would fill up the largest tanker in less than three minutes. So what's your solution?

I agree that it's a huge failure on the part of the twp. Condition and capacity of these aging sewer systems never seems to be an issue when they want to add a new subdivision...

 
Knee jerk internet reactions have little to do with real life infrastructure problems. It's a smelly shame but the creek will survive.
 
"So what's your solution?"

Never claimed to have one, its not my job nor my profession to repair broken sewage pipes. But someone gets paid to do it, and they arent doing their job and they need to be held accountable. Isnt this the second or third time its happened in the same spot?

Also, couldnt it just be turned off/diverted further up the line someplace and let it drain from the same spot til the pipe is empty? Again, i have no knowledge, just axing
 
Aging infrastructure is not because someone is not doing their job. While these things suck, it's not necessarily anybody's fault. Things wear out and break. With the unusually harsh winter, I'm sure the ground was heaving an already weakened pipe and something had to give. As unfortunate as it is, these things are bound to happen with the infrastructure nightmare we have in this country.
 
Blueheron, said it best.

Yes it's unfortunate, but sh!t does happen. Suing is not going to solve the problem, just like it rarely solves any problem. It just makes one entity happy and punishes the masses in the long run.

Timmy, they need to get the flow away from the break, just as you'd shut off the water to fix a leaking pipe in your house.
I'd venture a guess there are not that many valves built into the system because it's, obviously, an older design (lax environmental laws). I'd also guess the design could be over volume (population boom since it was built), and maybe it can't be totally shut off.

Disclaimer: I've never seen the stream in question, or lived in a place with public water, but I've done some residential plumbing.
 
Railking wrote:
Aging infrastructure is not because someone is not doing their job. While these things suck, it's not necessarily anybody's fault. Things wear out and break. With the unusually harsh winter, I'm sure the ground was heaving an already weakened pipe and something had to give. As unfortunate as it is, these things are bound to happen with the infrastructure nightmare we have in this country.
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Good post.

I did hear mention of replacing the entire sewer line. Like everything, it's all about the money. They must have just put a bandaid on that thing the last time it failed. Very sad.
 
Railking wrote:
Aging infrastructure is not because someone is not doing their job. While these things suck, it's not necessarily anybody's fault. Things wear out and break. With the unusually harsh winter, I'm sure the ground was heaving an already weakened pipe and something had to give. As unfortunate as it is, these things are bound to happen with the infrastructure nightmare we have in this country.
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well we need to be pre-emptive and not wait til things break.

isn't a private company responsible for this pipe ? or the Town ?

either way, someone didn't do their job.

its penny piching for $$$ again, same as the telegraph poles carrying power lines - no other developed country in the world loses as much power as the US does due to winter storms, other northern nations put their powerlines underground.

its so short sighted.

and i fail to see how five million gallons of raw sewage is not a health risk, given the birds and critters that will spread e-coli spores far and wide, plus the rotting feces etc left high up on banks, drains etc.

a bunch of BS from start to finish.

and not the first time either.
 
Aging infrastructure is not because someone is not doing their job.
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Sure it is.

As long as we continue kicking these cans down the road, either thru the choices we make or thru those we elect to represent us, we only have ourselves to blame.
 
That same section was broke not to long ago - and now it's broke again. Same Exact Location. Just different Sh**y pipes.
 
Things cost money. Our cities, counties, states, and our nation as a whole is broke. Everybody wants the problems fixed, yet nobody wants their taxes raised. So, who pays for these massive infrastructure improvements? While a sewer may seem like a pretty simple thing to fix, they are elaborate and span vast areas. They will fix this force main and it will rupture in its next weakest spot down the line. As much as some people don't want to believe it, some things are unpreventable with budgets public works department have to work with.
 
Its ok Obama will fix this. Have fait Railking :)
 
Well, you're making some assumptions there using the term 'everybody.'

I for one, if I knew a tax increase would go towards effective and efficient upgrades to our infrastructure, would support it. It's the smart thing to do, and unfortunately, I'm sure I'm in a very small minority in this regard. So we'll just have to keep on buying bigger band aids and get even more used to the phrase 'nobody could have predicted...' as more of these 'unpreventable accidents' happen. The rest of this discussion is probably best left to the OT crowd...
 
Maintaining buried infrastructure is not easy: you just can't shut off a sewer for preventive maintenance. There simply isn't any bypass available. Plus there are many miles of piping in one leg of a system, roads need to be shutdown, traffic diverted, etc., so what do you propose? This isn't a simple three hour shutdown it's a long term project.

Case in point - the NYC aqueduct system. Tunnel #1 built 1917, tunnel #2 built 1935, tunnel #3 BEGAN construction in 1970 and is not expected to be completed until 2020. When completed it will allow tunnels #1 and #2 to be shut down for maintenance FOR THE FIRST TIME.

It is unfortunate but there is no practical solution. New infrastructure needs to be built in order to replace the old infrastructure. Until then, it is what it is and whatever is going to going to happen will happen and you really can't blame anyone.
 
Robert Bonney, a conservation officer for Fish and Boat, said no fish have died (as of this AM) and the water being so cold is a positive cause it's holding more oxygen. Not sure how he knows if any fish died but from what I read he seemed not as sure abt the effect on insects.
 
Same report says the Brown trout are spawning now. Guess they mean that the eggs are hatching now which is true.
 
I've always thought that the fish could survive some sewage releases, the insects however , don't have the size to survive much mistreatment but what they lack in size they make up for in numbers.
The creek will not suffer permanent damage from this event, it is not an extremely clean waterway in the best of times, too close to too many people.
 
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