Valley City Sanitary Sewer Woes
Valley City, North Dakota
April 20, 2009

Jon Cameron, Valley City Administrator:

Friday morning, during our morning meeting, 
we got calls from several businesses in this 
area that they were receiving sewage into 
their basements. So staff were deployed 
immediately and determined that an old forty-
eight inch sewer main under Main Street that 
was built in the early nineteen-hundreds, 
either that had collapsed or a manhole, built 
about the same time, had collapsed and was 
dumping raw sewage into local businesses 
and some of the homes in this neighborhood.

We had already told residents to cease using 
the sanitary sewer system as much as 
possible. When that happened we made it 
mandatory. We brought in Port-a-potties all 
over the city to help with that.  We have about 
four hundred of them scattered around town.

Temporarily the sewage had to be pumped 
directly into the river for a short period of time.

From the Department of Health Assessment, 
we immediately contacted them, they were 
dispatched and the State Dept of Health.  
Primarily what was being pumped was river 
water; we were pumping river water into the 
breach. That was their assessment.  The 
small amount of sewage in the system was 
diluted with river water.  

We have plenty of quality fresh water; and you 
can take it out of the faucets. But we just don’t 
want it going down the drains. We are just 
telling the people cooperate as best they can; 
just don’t put anything down the sewer system 
right now.

If you shower, if you get a drink of water, you 
can’t wash dishes, can’t wash clothes. 
Anything you put into the sanitary sewer 
system is a problem.

Sandi Gaffer, Valley City resident:  

We are not using water

Renee Whitlock, Valley City resident

They put port-a-pottie out by our house...

Sandi Gaffer, Valley City resident:   

It can't  be much harder than our frontier 
people had it. They made it. We will make it.

Jon Cameron, Valley City Administrator:

But it's a beautiful city and we are going to 
back to where we were and we are going to 
be better than ever.

For more information, visit www.fema.gov