South Portland residents faced a less-than-pleasant surprise on Thursday when city crews rushed to Riverdale Grade School following reports of raw sewage leaking onto the playground. The playground area, now closed for cleanup, was the site of a substantial sewage spill, estimated at 4,000 gallons. The unwelcome release was contained within an hour, and work is underway to return the area to its former state, according to a release from the Environmental Services.
Responding crews found the cause to be a clogged sewer line, now cleared, with the exact origins of the blockage still under investigation. The school has been quick to adapt, posting closure notices on its website and around the affected area to alert the community.
Preventing such incidents, insists Environmental Services, requires public awareness and vigilance. The department has released guidelines urging residents to discard items like cooking grease and wet wipes in the trash rather than sending them down drains or toilets. This simple action, they claim, is one of the key defenses against such mishaps. The message is clear: only human waste and toilet paper should find their way into our sewers.
Environmental Services has also issued an advisory, which can be found on the school's website, detailing further preventative measures designed to keep our civic systems functioning and our playgrounds free of sewage. They stress that items like wet wipes, regardless of how they're marketed, are not flushable and contribute significantly to the clogs that can cause these all-too-frequent overflows. To report a sewer overflow, or if you experience one, the city maintains a hotline available at any hour: 503-823-1700.
