Raw sewage spills into Fox River in St. Charles

A ball check valve broke Sunday afternoon in a sewage lift station in St. Charles, sending raw sewage out of the building, over a riverside path and into the Fox River.

Whatever caused the break put a 6-by-6-inch hole in the side of the cast-iron pipe, public works superintendent Mark Koenen said.

"It was a mess," he said.

The station, which elevates sewage to send it to one of the city's two treatment plants, has been closed and the sewage rerouted. The city is trying to figure out what caused the valve to break, something Koenen has never seen nor heard of. The valve has been in place since at least 1983, he said.

The city notified the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency Sunday by telephone of the spill, and is filling the necessary paperwork.

Koenen did not know how many gallons were spilled, but based on when an emergency alarm was activated, estimated the city shut the spill within 40 minutes.

Downstream Geneva and Batavia draw their drinking water from wells, but Aurora draws its from the river. However, its water production superintendent said Monday that the city's treatment system would have adjusted chlorine levels, as it does every day, to handle any increase in bacteria.