The Department of Fisheries and Oceans has issued a temporary emergency shellfish closure for part of Porpoise Bay after a lift station on the Sechelt sewer system failed.
The district said Wednesday afternoon that an estimated 10 cubic metres of effluent spilled into the inlet after a pump failure Jan. 25 at the lift station at the foot of Harbour Way in West Porpoise Bay.
District staff and a crew from Startek Industrial Services were able to contain the spill and the station is operating normally again.
The problem was first discovered when a resident contacted the district around 10 a.m. last Friday. The alarm system in the lift station was not triggered.
Technicians discovered the power to the pump was out and the fault was eventually traced to a bad relay. The same problem caused the alarm malfunction. The relay was bypassed and the systems came back on line.
The spill was reported to Fisheries and Oceans, which has closed the area south from the line between MacLean Bay on one side of the inlet and Snake Bay on the other to all shellfish harvesting until further notice.
