AMARILLO, TEXAS -- One Amarillo park remains closed after a messy situation had City crews out during the weekend cleaning it up.
When the City of Amarillo received calls about a power outage a lift station near Southeast Park Saturday afternoon, crews responded immediately. Repairs took about one hour and during that hour, the backup generator failed to work and sewage overflowed park and nearby street.
"About 100,000 gallons of sewage overflowed one of the manholes upstream," said the City's Assistant Director of Utilities, Tim Loan. "The reports were that some of the wastewater did reach the lake."
It's no surprise the City closed the park for cleanup. Crews picked up any debris left behind on Osage or in the park.
"We do spread disinfectant on the ground after we've cleaned that up," said Loan. "We really don't expect any smells to be lingering."
While you may not be able to "see" any debris left around the park, officials are taking steps to make sure the water at the park is clean and safe.
"We've been sampling the lake and visual observations to make sure that there hasn't been any fish kills or anything, which they have not observed any fish kills," added Loan. "We should get those results late today and it'll take us a little while to analyze those results and everything. Assuming everything is okay, which we're not expecting any adverse effects from it, we'll recommend that the park be reopened."
Loan said the City experiences anywhere from six to 12 overflows a year. Most of which are caused by mechanical problems like the one that caused this weekends.
