Wastewater Backed Up in TRA Collection Lines, Manholes Over Flow

Grand Prairie-The Trinity River Authority's Central Regional Wastewater System provides wastewater treatment for 20 cities between Dallas and Fort Worth and also serves the DFW International Airport.   Wastewater enters the treatment plant located near Loop 12 and Singleton Blvd through pipelines that connect to a Junction Box, a large concrete structure, which delivers all flow into the treatment plant. A sluice gate, estimated to weigh 20,000 pounds, inside this Junction Box failed about 5 AM on Wednesday, March 31, falling and blocking all the flow from entering the treatment plant. 

             Emergency measures were implemented immediately.  Underwater divers went into the Junction Box and connected the fallen gate to a crane with high strength cable, simultaneously with other contractors modifying facilities, which are presently under construction to allow using another influent junction box earlier than planned.  The facilities under construction were modified and placed into service sooner than the failed gate was retrieved, and full treatment of all incoming wastewater began on all incoming wastewater before 5 PM.  Until service was resumed, the incoming pipelines from the 21 customers filled, and outflows of untreated wastewater occurred in some low lying areas.  The estimated volume of outflowing wastewater from the regional system is 1.38 million gallons.

             Remediation of affected areas has begun and will continue until the cleanup is complete and any environmental impacts have been mitigated.   A portion of the system's incoming flow was diverted into a treatment plant owned by the City of Fort Worth on an interim basis, to reduce the impact of this failure, and a temporary pumping system was installed and activated to move some of the incoming wastewater around the blockage into the TRA plant during the emergency repairs.  Sampling of the Trinity River was initiated to test for any negative environmental impacts. Average daily flows into the plant are in the 140 million gallon per day range.  Representatives in the cities and counties that may be affected by any outflows, along with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, have been contacted. TRA has deployed a water quality monitoring team to determine what impact potential over flows will have on the environment.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT JOHN JADROSICH, TRA PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER AT (817) 467-4343.