Renton crews pumping out detention pond because of sewage inflow

A Renton maintenance crew was pumping the water Tuesday from a stormwater detention pond near Hazen High School because sewage has flowed into it.

By Dean Radford • April 17, 2012 3:58 pm
The water in a detention pond containing some sewage was being pumped out and into the sewer system on Northeast 10th Street and Duvall Avenue Tuesday in the Highlands. The water line is visible at the right; the dark color below the grass is typical and is not an indication of sewage.
The water in a detention pond containing some sewage was being pumped out and into the sewer system on Northeast 10th Street and Duvall Avenue Tuesday in the Highlands. The water line is visible at the right; the dark color below the grass is typical and is not an indication of sewage.

A Renton maintenance crew was pumping the water Tuesday  from a stormwater detention pond near Hazen High School because sewage has flowed into it.

The city is trying to determine the cause, which could take days.

The City of Renton has separate systems for stormwater and for sewage. Possibly, there’s a cross-connecting pipe in the area between the two systems or sewage somehow overflowed from the sewage line into the stormwater line and then into the pond.

A partial block of the sewer line in the area was cleared on Friday.

“We don’t consider this to be a major health issue,” said Dave Christensen,  supervisor of wastewater utilities engineering. The amount of sewage that flowed into the pond “is relatively small,” he said.

There was a sewage backup at Hazen Tuesday morning and the city is looking at how the two incidents might be related. Hazen, which is on Hoquiam Avenue in the Highlands, wasn’t closed for the day because of the backup.

The crews are pumping the pond water into the sewage line. Crews will flush and clean the stormwater line.

The state Department of Ecology has been notified, Christensen said.