Broken Arrow Cleaning Up After Rains Cause Sewage Spill

Broken Arrow city crews are working to fix one of their lift stations - after heavy rains caused a pump to malfunction, spewing raw sewage sewage into nearby Adams Creek.

The city says they hope to have all the pumps at the lift station working by the end of the night.

"The wastewater that should have been flowing through underground pipes discharged through a nearby manhole and entered Adams creek," Broken Arrow Communications Director Krista Flasch said.

It's a costly problem the City of Broken Arrow is working to clean up; raw sewage spilling into a community creek.

"We've been pumping clean water into Adams Creek since last night in an effort to dilute the waste water," Flasch said.

Video from Osage Sky News 6 HD shows crews working non-stop at the lift station, which is near the Creek Turnpike between 51st and 61st Streets. Flasch says this lift station was built several years ago to help move wastewater and believes a similar issue happened last year as well.

Related Story: Broken Arrow Lift Station Repaired After Flooding 

"This is an unfortunate incident that we do not want to happen again," Flasch said.

Now, the city is working on two projects. The first is a notification system that will help them monitor the station around the clock.

"We will also install bar screens that will help filter out the debris before it enters the lift station and damages the pumps, so those two projects there will definitely help with situations like this from occurring again," Flasch said.

Flasch says there will likely be a fine but it's not clear yet how much the city might have to pay beyond the cost of repairs.

No homes or businesses were impacted by the sewage release. The Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality is in contact with the city, and will be working with them to make sure state requirements are met.