FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                               February 15, 2005

Release E-16

NIU SEWAGE SPILL UPDATE

        Work on the broken sewer main at Niu Valley will be suspended from 3 to 7:30 p.m. today in order to minimize disruptions in pau hana traffic on Kalanianaole Highway.

        The sewer main has not yet been repaired, and pump trucks are still shuttling untreated wastewater from the Niu Wastewater Pumping Station, near the break, to Wailupe.

        That requires blocking one west-bound lane of Kalanianaole Highway at the pump station and one east-bound lane of the highway at Wailupe, where the wastewater is being emptied into a sewer main through a manhole. Those two spots will be coned off until the broken main is repaired.

       The break was reported about 3 p.m. yesterday, in a 16-inch force main that crosses the highway underground, from the pumping station to the makai side of Kalanianaole Highway.

       City Department of Environmental Services officials say that 75-yard length of pipe will have to be replaced or a plastic liner installed to prevent future breaks. A break occurred there on February 2. There was at least one other repair done, in 2001.

      Today’s repair work involves uncovering the underground pipe to expose the break. That involves digging a trench. What’s already been exposed will be covered with steel sheets in order to allow traffic to pass during rush hour.

        An unknown quantity of untreated wastewater spilled from the break yesterday, until the Niu Wastewater Pumping Station shut down its pumps and quit sending sewage into the broken line.

      Some of the spilled sewage entered storm drains that lead to the ocean.  Warning signs have been posted in the area. The state Health Department has been notified and waters along the shore will be tested.

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Contact:     Ken Shimizu, Deputy Director, Department of Environmental Services, 349-6370

                  Mark Matsunaga 352-1528