Raw sewage remains stagnant in ponds near the Bangor Mall as the owner ignores Bangor’s requests to remove it and fix the broken pipe that caused it, a city official said.
The city was notified of a broken sewer line on the mall’s property on Aug. 22, Director of Water Quality Management Amanda Smith said. The line was fixed Aug. 26.
She isn’t able to estimate how much sewage spilled during that time, but it all flowed from the “pretty vast” network of sewer lines that serve the mall and a few surrounding properties, Smith said. That stagnant sewage can continue contaminating the Penjajawoc Stream, while the erosion around the mall’s nearly 5-foot stormwater pipe threatens to damage the city’s public sewer lines.
The extent of the sewage spill came to light this week after Bangor filed a lawsuit Friday that details the city’s attempts to get the mall’s owners to remediate code violations that likely caused the spill. It’s the city’s latest concern regarding the Bangor Mall, as it filed a previous lawsuit against mall ownership in October over the condition of the building’s roof and parking lot.
The lawsuit names Bangor Mall Realty LLC, Bangor CH LLC and Bangor Nassim LLC. The mall is owned and managed by Namdar Realty Group LLC, which did not immediately respond Tuesday to a request for comment.
The sewage spilled into the 54-inch pipe, which flowed into stormwater ponds that drain into the Penjajawoc Stream, according to the lawsuit.
When the city learned about the broken line, stopping the sewage flow was the first concern, Smith said. Setting up a bypass, which captures the sewage and then deposits it back into the pipes after the break, was a priority.
The mall had a contractor at the scene the day after Bangor learned about the leak and the contractor had set up a bypass, Smith said. However, the contractor stopped all work the next day and the city had to set up a bypass to fix the pipe.
Both a 10-inch sewer line and 18-inch stormwater pipe were fixed five days after the city learned of the leak, Smith said. It cost the city $17,651 to fix them, not including the cost of staff time.
The city has requested the mall owner remediate the ponds where sewage still lingers.
“To date, nothing has been done about that,” Smith said.
It was a dry fall, which means there was not enough rain water to push the sewage out of the ponds and into the Penjajawoc Stream, she said. The city is monitoring the area weekly for high levels of E. coli.
The Maine Department of Environmental Protection was notified of a sewer line break that flowed into the Penjajawoc Stream and has an open enforcement case, Deputy Commissioner David Madore said.
Sinkholes along the 54-inch stormwater line indicate the pipe needs to be fixed, Smith said. The city needs the line fixed because there are several public sewer mains in the vicinity that could be damaged if the erosion continues.
“Unfortunately, I think that the next step is to follow through with this lawsuit,” Smith said. “What we’re looking for them to do is to just fix the problem and our immediate concern is the remediation of those retention ponds as well as fixing the bigger 54-inch stormwater line that continues to wash away.”
