what seems to be the problem, device failure or human errors?
Nowadays we will always run into all kinds of emergencies, and these emergencies cause so many damage to our daily life, but sometime it is not that there is something wrong with device, on the contrary, it is the notification which we should inform immediately, because these damage can be recovered when we are informed immediately.
A lift station failure in St. Louis potentially caused millions of gallons of untreated sewage to flow into the Mississippi River. It’s been fixed, but state regulators want to know why it took four days for them to find out about it.
The lift station failed last Thursday at a Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District facility near Jefferson Barracks, with sewage overflowing through a manhole that was covered by the flooding river. It was repaired Tuesday afternoon.
The failure allowed for up to 4.6 million gallons of untreated sewage to be pumped into the river each day — or potentially more than 18 million gallons over the four-day period, though MSD spokesman Lance LeComb said there was no way to know exactly how much sewage made it into the river.
LeComb said a combination of factors — both related to persistent flooding — were the culprits. A couple of months ago, a barge making its way downriver during a period of high water drifted into the area around the lift station. The current flood — the Mississippi on Wednesday was about 5 feet above flood stage in St. Louis — made things worse.
“We think a barge hit one of the structures, created a void or breach, and debris from the river got into the system,” LeComb said. “That combined with the high water — they (the lifts) just blew out.”
Both MSD and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources downplayed health concerns. DNR spokesman Judd Slivka said the river is at such a high volume and running so fast that it dilutes the raw sewage. No boil orders or other precautions are necessary for those downriver, he said.
But Slivka said DNR will cite MSD for violating the state Clean Water Act by failing to notify DNR within 24 hours of the lift station failure.
“Our biggest concern is the notification,” Slivka said. “The pumps failed last Thursday and we didn’t find out about it until Tuesday.”
LeComb said MSD officials are also puzzled about the communication error. He said MSD has already issued a written report required within five days, “but for some reason that phone call to DNR was not made Thursday.
“That’s something we take very seriously,” LeComb said. “We’re going to look into it, find out what happened, and take corrective action.”
Since we can ensure everything happens like what we design, but trouble can be fixed when we are informed at a short time.
