ACUA/Contractor activates bypass line to stop the sewer leak on Wellington Avenue.
VENTNOR – Residents of the Downbeach area awoke Saturday morning to the news that the days-long sewer leak on Wellington Avenue in the Heights section of Ventnor had ended thanks to a bypass line that was activated shortly after 1 a.m.
The bypass stopped the leak and allowed the ACUA’s contractor to focus on repairing the broken force main pipe.
Wastewater will now flow into the bypass line which was laid alongside the broken section of sewer pipe on Wellington Avenue. The bypass will prevent the discharge of wastewater onto streets and into the bay.
Workers have been cleaning the surrounding streets, but detours remain in place.
Here’s an update from the ACUA that was provided to the media Friday evening:
Repair Work
ACUA’s emergency contractor installed two tapping saddles in each of the excavated areas on either side of the damaged sewer line early Friday morning. This specialized equipment is required for the bypass line installation. Final connectors for the bypass line were fused into place and forms were set for the concrete saddle anchor. Concrete trucks began pouring concrete for the anchoring process around noon on Friday. ACUA anticipates the bypass will be initiated around midnight Friday when the flows from the Downbeach community area are lowest, and wastewater can be held temporarily at the pumping station while the bypass comes online. Setting the line stops will require the temporary shutdown of the ACUA Ventnor/Margate and the Pleasantville pump stations and is done with coordination from Ventnor and Margate.
Cleaning Efforts
Two Jet-Vac trucks continued work clearing the residue from the break on the affected side streets and sidewalks. Streets completed today include the southeast side of Victoria and Surrey, Dudley, Suffolk and the area along Wellington between Dudley and Oxford.
Future Work
Now that the bypass is in place, the contractor will purge the sink hole at the break area, evaluate the situation and repair the sewer main. After the break is repaired and tested, the bypass will be removed.
The Atlantic County Engineering Department will then assess the roadway to make repairs to restore the comprised area.
Until the temporary construction of the roadway is deemed safe, the detours around Wellington will remain in place, although additional modification to improve the flow of traffic may be possible as repairs advance.
Completion of the repair is anticipated within four weeks.
