Calais sewage continues to be released into river

CALAIS – The city Thursday continued to dump raw sewage into the St. Croix River because of a broken pump at the Union Street pump station.

Since Monday about 100,000 gallons of raw sewage has been dumped daily into the international river. The city shares the river with neighboring St. Stephen, New Brunswick.

City officials had hoped to have the problem solved by Thursday night.

Late Thursday afternoon, acting City Manager Jim Porter said the broken pump was still in Bangor. He said wastewater treatment personnel were working on the problem but he did expect it to be repaired before today.

The amount released equals about a fourth of the daily volume treated at the city’s plant.

The pump station is located on Union Street and handles sewage for the portion of the city from Garfield Street north to Milltown, a village within the city.