The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) reports that a sewer lined owned by the Naval Station Newport failed today, discharging 10,000 gallons of untreated sewage into Newport Harbor.

Since notifying DEM of the failure of the force main this morning, Navy staff have used septage haulers and their own vacuum truck to keep the plant’s wet well from overflowing again. A force main is a pipeline connecting wastewater from the discharge side of a pump to a discharge point. Navy staff indicated that repairs of the force main will be completed tomorrow.

Based on the information available, DEM doesn’t expect the overflow to further affect shellfishing in the area. The sewage overflow site is just east of a large area that already is prohibited to harvesting shellfish (see map on next page) because of the Newport wastewater treatment facility’s outfall, activities at the Naval Station, and other potential pollutant sources to Newport Harbor.

The green, shaded circle is the sewage overflow site.

The sewage overflow site is just east of a large area that already is prohibited to harvesting shellfish because of the Newport wastewater treatment facility’s outfall, activities at the Naval Station, and other potential pollution sources of Newport Harbor.