Street Roots • October 20-26, 2017
News
Page 4
A n arrow points to a 2dnch by 24-inch hole cut in the screen
leading to the city’s sanitary sewer system, a perm it violation.
P H O T O S ARE F R O M A P O R T L A N D B U R E A U O F E N V IR O N M E N T A L
SERVICES IN V E S T IG A T IO N
Debris, such as beverage cans, caught in and below a catch
screen intended to keep debris out o f the city’s sanitary sewer.
Debris that jam m ed the pum ps a t the Rivergate Pum p Station.
The city has evidence Honey Bucket rigged
a drain and jam m ed the sewer, but the
porta-potty company blames ‘homeless folks’
BY EMILY GREEN
problem as soon as possible.
Luckily, each time the main and
secondary back-up pump at the station were
hen the Rivergate Pump Station in
jammed with debris, triggering an alarm,
North Portland began to jam with
crews arrived in time to clear the clogs and
clothing, construction materials
reinstall the pumps before an overflow
and hypodermic needles in April, the source
occurred.
of the debris was a mystery.
Any facility with a permit to discharge
The underground station takes sewage
into the city’s sanitary sewer system is
that’s been flowing downward along a
required to have safeguards in place to keep
gravity-powered path and pumps it upward
large solid materials from entering the
to higher ground. From there, the sewage
system.
continues its journey to the city’s
For this reason, one theory floated early
wastewater treatment plant to be treated.
on in the city’s investigation was that
When a city sewer pump jams, it can
someone might be illegally dumping
cause raw sewage to back up into homes
clothing and other garbage directly into the
and businesses, leak out into the street and
sewer, according to internal city emails.
possibly end up in storm drains that lead to
But a city inspection of the area’s
the Willamette River.
manholes yielded no evidence of such
Because raw sewage contains some
dumping.
pretty nasty bacteria, such as E. coli, these
The focus of the investigation changed
overflows can spell a public health
when the city discovered a Honey Bucket
emergency and an environmental mess.
storage facility on North Rivergate
Of notable concern, the Rivergate Pump
Boulevard, just north of St. Johns, had
Station happens to sit adjacent to nearly
recently obtained a wastewater permit to
2,000 acres of wildlife habitat in the Smith
begin emptying its porta-potties onsite.
and Bybee Wetlands Natural Area. It’s the
The site’s wastewater system had passed
largest protected freshwater wetland within
inspection in February, and its Industrial
an American city.
Wastewater Discharge Permit from the city
Depending on the volume and velocity of
had been approved.
the spill, an overflow at that location could
The day Honey Bucket began discharging
have potentially flowed into the river or
wastewater toward the Rivergate Pump
affected wildlife. The habitat is home to
many species, including river otters, black
Station, however, was the day the pump
began to clog.
tailed deer, beavers, Western painted
turtles, Chinook salmon and 100 types of
“That was the big smoking gun,” said Dan
bird, such as bald eagles and ospreys.
Parnell, Bureau of Environmental Services
When the Rivergate station jammed nine
industrial permitting manager.
times over 10 days, officials in Portland’s
Over the course of 10 days, the only day
Bureau of Environmental Services knew
the city’s sewer pump didn’t jam was the
they had to pinpoint the source of the
only day Honey Bucket didn’t discharge
S T A F F W R IT E R
W
wastewater, according to city documents
obtained through a records request.
Debris similar to the items that clogged
the city’s pump was discovered onsite at
Honey Bucket in its catch basins, according
to city inspectors. They noted a beverage
can and hypodermic needles floating in the
company’s septic tank. These items had to
pass through all the safeguards, which rely
mainly on workers’ diligence, and a catch
screen to arrive at that location, Parnell
said.
As it turns out, people discard all sorts of
items inside Honey Buckets, which are often
used at construction sites, music festivals
and other outdoor events. Tom Rogers of
Northwest Cascade, Honey Bucket’s parent
company, told city regulators that workers
regularly find everything from beer cans and
Gatorade bottles to bras, underwear and
other items in Honey Bucket porta-potties.
When employees clean out the toilets,
they’re supposed to fish out large items and
throw them away. Additionally, before the
water enters the onsite septic system, it has
to pass through a screened drain that
should stop any items that were missed by
workers.
But city inspectors discovered the Honey
Bucket facility manager had cut a 2-inch by
24-inch hole in one of the screens intended
to keep debris out of the sewer - a major
permit violation. Additionally, a pipe had
been replaced to alter the facility’s septic
flow - another serious violation.
“I’ve been in this business for 16 years
now, and that’s the first time I’ve had a
permittee that has drastically altered a
See HONEY BUCKET, page 5