NEW PORT RICHEY - Crews this weekend built a bypass around a ruptured section of sewer pipe that was leaking thousands of gallons of untreated wastewater, the city's public works director said Sunday.
"There is no more leakage whatsoever," Tom O'Neill said.
City and Westra Construction crews worked until the early hours of Saturday morning to build an 80-foot-long temporary line around the broken section, which lies under Main Street less than 1/2-mile from U.S. 19.
On Friday, the sewage was flowing into the ground at a rate of 2,000 gallons per minute. Nearby Cross Bayou was threatened by a surge of some 200,000 gallons, and the state Department of Environmental Protection ordered samples be taken from there to measure bacteria levels.
O'Neill said the results of those tests wouldn't be ready until early this week. But he visited the bayou Saturday and said the water looked normal.
"I didn't detect anything," he said. "The water was clear."
Work will resume soon on upgrades under way since July to replace numerous valves and pipes at the treatment plant. Westra is the contractor on that project.
