FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                              February 27, 2005

Release E-20

NIU SEWAGE SPILL UPDATE

         After working through the night, city crews have completed repairs on a trouble-plagued sewage main in Niu that ruptured yesterday.  

          They replaced a 20-foot section of  the 16-inch force main.  The line has been tested and is again functioning. The trench that was dug  to allow access to the broken pipe was being filled in by 2 p.m.

         About 3,000 gallons of untreated wastewater spilled from the break yesterday. It was the third time this month that sewage spilled from a rupture in that pipe, which carries sewage from the Niu Wastewater Pumping Station under Kalanianaole Highway toward town.

         Sewage spills occurred in the same underground pipe twice earlier this month. On Feb. 2, a rupture occurred near the Niu pumping station, on the mauka side of the highway. On Feb. 14, another break occurred, on the makai side of the highway several hundred feet downstream.

        Yesterday’s spill occurred near the Valentine’s Day break. Collection System Maintenance Division officials said the cause again appeared to be corrosion cracks.

          Because of the earlier spills, the city has begun preparing plans to install a temporary surface bypass for the Niu main as well as a permanent underground replacement.

         Some of the spilled wastewater entered the storm drain system, which flows to the ocean. The state Health Department has been notified. Warning signs have been posted and shoreline waters will be tested.

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For more information contact:

    Mark Matsunaga, 352-1528