Brooklyn pipe cleaning draws curious residents

By Rita A. Leonard

The Bee, Nov 4, 2009

Rita A. Leonard / THE BEE

Large red containment boxes, noisy equipment and blocked-off streets piqued the interest of Brooklyn residents during a recent water pipe maintenance project.

ADVERTISEMENTS

Construction of the forthcoming Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail line involves much preparation and coordination of services.

Along the Brooklyn neighborhood, where the line is expected to parallel S.E. 17th Avenue, work is currently being done both above and below ground.

In October, the Bureau of Environmental Services blocked off S.E.16th Avenue, and spent several days cleaning out the interceptor pipe between S.E. Haig Street and Powell Boulevard, and checking on the condition of the older construction.

Nearby residents were puzzled by the project and by the blocked intersections, since advance notice had not been given.

David Allred, Outreach Director for the BES, told THE BEE, “While the project was considered more of a maintenance job, to check whether rehab needed to be done — in retrospect, it involved a lot of big and noisy equipment, and we probably should have let people know what was going on, since we got a few calls about it.”

Maintenance Engineer Steven Hawkins explained, “We’ve been cleaning debris out of the pipe, which is about 66 inches in diameter. We plan to send in a camera to videotape the interior, and check for cracks or any other routine problems that might impact the project. We use water from a fire hydrant to clean out the debris, which is then pumped into large box-like containers for disposal.

“Mostly, we found a lot of broken concrete pieces, and rocks up to 6 inches in diameter from the storm drains, but the pipe looked good. It’s amazing the stuff that washes in down there, but so far, the inspection is going well. We got as far as S.E. Pershing Street, but had to quit for a while, due to a faulty fire hydrant.”

Hawkins advised that the work is not related to the “Big Pipe” sewer project, or to the historic old Brooklyn Creek that used to flow along S.E. 17th Avenue.

Still have questions about the project? You’re invited to call David Allred at 503/823-7740.