Will Huge Sewage Spill in Valley Forge Do Serious Damage?

Five million gallons of raw sewage spilled into Valley Creek, a tributary of the Schuylkill River, from a water main break yesterday.

That sinkhole in Valley Forge Park yesterday? Yeah, it resulted in 5 million gallons of sewage spilling into Valley Creek — a tributary of the Schuylkill.

Spare your jokes at how anyone would be able to tell in the Schuylkill. KYW 1060’s Brad Segall talked to a state environmental official:

State conservation officer Bob Bonney says the environmental impact may not be known for some time.

“Right now, the immediate impact — we’re fortunate that this time of the year it’s cold,” he tells KYW Newsradio. “There’s high oxygen levels in the water, still, and we have not observed any dead fish. And that’s our main concern.”

We’ll know eventually! Great. The reason this impacts us: Philly gets its drinking water from the Delaware and Schuylkill. (And, y’know, general environmental concerns.) The water main break — which was blamed on unfixed aging infrastructure — spilled sewage into Valley Creek for hours; crews are continuing repair work.

[KYW 1060]