Sewage spill causes health advisories

Norma Hoem didn’t know what was going on Tuesday afternoon by her house but she knew it stunk to high heaven. Hoem, who lives on NW Bucklin Hill Road near Nels Nelson, smelled the stench of sewage at about 2 p.m. after county construction crews accidentally broke a sewage pipe while working on road construction on Nels Nelson Road, said Rick Gagnon with the Kitsap County Wastewater Division. The road crews were installing a new culvert when the accident happenend.

Once the sewage started leaking out, the crews had to find the right wrench to shut off the valve on the pipe to stop the flow.

Between 100,000 and 150,000 gallons of raw sewage leaked into a tributary of Barker Creek before the leak could be stopped. The sewage then leaked into a tributary of Barker Creek and then into Dyes Inlet, according to a press release from the Kitsap County Health District.

It is difficult to estimate how much sewage leaked out because there are three factors that play into it, Gagnon said.

The size of the pipe and the hole in the pipe, how full the pipe was at the time of the accident and the slope of the pipe, which would help determine how quickly sewage would exit the pipe.

Crews had the pipe repaired by 5 p.m. Tuesday, Gagnon said. The damaged part of the pipe had to be removed, replaced and secured with two bands.

As for the cleanup, the only thing the Health District can do is to wait for nature to run its course.

“For the most part it flushes out naturally,” Gagnon said.

There is one glitch, however. The sewage leak affected Hoem’s privately owned retention pond.

“We’re cleaning it up,” Gagnon said of

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