Nebraska Bird Partnership

It was already unsafe to go into the flood-swollen North Platte River. Now it’s unsanitary too.  Although the Panhandle is not seeing flooding like some of Nebraska, the high levels are still creating problems.

On Wednesday afternoon the City of Scottsbluff received a report that sewer water was emerging from a manhole at South Beltline Highway between Broadway and Avenue B, just behind the Panhandle Humane Society.  “The overflow of the manhole was being caused by a blockage of a 24-inch sanitary sewer transmission main,” said Lynn Garton, wastewater supervisor of the City of Scottsbluff. Sand erosion is plugging the main pipe, which receives sewage flow from the west side of Scottsbluff. In order to keep the line from backing up into residential and commercial areas, Garton and his crew began pumping the water into the North Platte River.

Approximately 100 gallons a minute of sewage is flowing into the river.

Read more about sewage pumping into the North Platte from the Scottsbluff Star-Herald.