A pool of raw sewage fills a hole dug by contractors to reach the broken sewer main beneath the NJ Transit train station parking lot. (Photo by Brian Donohue. Click to enlarge.)
By BRIAN DONOHUE
You might want to cancel the heatwave kayak trip, folks.
A contractor doing environmental testing in the Red Bank train station parking lot broke a large sanitry sewer main Thursday, causing a wastewater spill into storm drains that empty to the Navesink River, officials said.
Raw sewage flowing into a storm drain in the NJ Transit lots on Monmouth Street, above, and pouring into the Navesink River at the foot of Bodman Place, below. ( Above photo by Brian Donohue. Click to enlarge.)
“We’ve had an extensive amount of sewage discharged to the storm drains in that area,” a clearly peeved Borough Manager Jim Gant said at the meeting of the Borough Council Thursday night.
The soil testing was being done by a contractor in anticipation of a proposed future development of the train station lots and surrounding blocks.
Workers doing borings hit a pressurized main known as a “force main” used in areas where wastewater needs to move uphill and that cannot be shut off, Gant said.
“They went in an area where our water utility department… told them to avoid,” Gant said. “They didn’t avoid, and they struck a force main.”
Thursday afternoon, the borough issued an alert through the borough web site and social media channels that read in part:
It is STRONGLY advised that all residents and visitors refrain from engaging in river activities or consuming any shellfish or finfish in the area of the SH 35 Bridge and nearby riverbanks until additional water monitoring can be conducted.
Gant said residents should avoid any river activities until water samples taken by the NJ Department of Environmental Protection indicate they are safe.
Thursday evening the smell of sewage permeated the air as contractors dug a hole to reach the main and a steady flow of water went down the nearby storm drain. Work was expected to continue overnight or until the pipe is repaired.
Gant emphasized the borough and its contractors were not involved in the project. As for the contractors who broke the main, he said:”All parties will be held accountable.”
With an estimated 100 gallons of wastewater per minute being discharged into the storm sewer system, Brian Rice, Chairman of the Navesink Rivers Municipalities Committee, wrote on Facebook’s Shrewsbury & Navesink River Boaters Facebook page:
“As a precautionary measure, we strongly advise all residents and visitors to refrain from engaging in any river sports or consuming any shellfish or finish from the affected river until further notice. This advisory is issued to ensure the safety and health of the community.”
In response, the Navesink River Rowing club, which launches from Maple Avenue, advised its members not to go out on the water until further notice.
A Bodman Place resident sent redbankgreen a photo showing an outfall pipe pouring sewage into the river. “Brown liquid is also spewing from manholes on lower Bodman and making its way into storm drains that also flow directly into the Navesink,” the reader wrote.
“I find it disturbing that it is crabbing season, and tomorrow morning people will be fishing for crabs (which they will of course eat) in the EXACT area where this brown water is being pumped/drained,” he said.
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