Body Found In Inaccessible Oregon Wastewater System

Wastewater operators and city authorities were puzzled when they found a body last month in an inaccessible part of the Eugene, OR, wastewater system.

“Police in Eugene are trying to solve a disturbing mystery after a body was discovered in the wastewater system at a pump station,” according to WWMT.

The wastewater crew found the body “while performing twice-annual maintenance with a pump truck used to remove grease and debris from the wastewater wet well, a 10-foot wide, 28-foot long and 26-foot deep underground vault,” KVAL reported.

Wastewater experts described how unlikely this situation is. "I've worked here for 32 years, and this is a first for me," said Dave Breitenstein, wastewater operations manager for the City of Eugene.

The circumstance is strange because the only way for something to enter the system is through “a sink, shower drains, removing a manhole or by having access to a pump station,” the WWMT report said.

“About 800 miles of wastewater piping handles 20 million gallons of wastewater daily from kitchens and bathrooms in Eugene-Springfield. Pipes range from 8 inches in diameter at homes up to big transmission lines that measure 72 inches across,” KVAL reported.

Breitenstein described how secure the system is.

"At the stations, we have vault covers, we keep it locked,” he said. “The station is secured either by fence or the vaults are always locked, so those are really well secured. Any large materials, the only way they would enter by normal means of service or by someone discharging them down the drain."

"The wastewater collection system is entirely enclosed, separate from anything else, even separate from septage deliveries," he added, per KVAL.

Authorities could not immediately confirm the identity of the deceased, KATU reported.

http://www.wateronline.com/doc/body-found-inaccessible-oregon-wastewater-system-0001