PORTLAND — Friday’s heavy rain in Portland caused a four-hour city sewer overflow into the Willamette River.
The Oregonian reports it was the seventh such overflow since 2011 when Portland opened the $1.4 billion Big Pipe project to control heavy flows. The pipe carries both storm water runoff and sewage to the treatment plant.
Bureau of Environmental Services spokesman Linc Mann says officials recorded 1.69 inches in a 24 hour period. The system is built to handle 1.2 inches during a 48 hour stretch.
