An estimated 450 cubic meters of untreated wastewater and stormwater overflowed from Honkapirti's sewage pumping station into Vuo.

At the Honkapirti sewage pumping station, the last pumping station of the sewage line on the east side of Vuoksi, a sewage overflow happened yesterday. The capacity of the pumping station was not enough to pump all the water further to the wastewater treatment plant, and the wastewater flowed untreated into Vuo. 

- Yesterday happened to be the peak of this year's flow so far. As a whole, about 40 cubic meters of water went to the wastewater treatment plant, while on average about 000 cubic meters of water comes per day, says the water management manager of Imatra water Kari Pietarinen.

In the spring, meltwater ends up in poor sewage drains, which loads the sewer network and causes overflow situations. Yesterday it rained and at the same time the snow melted quickly, which caused an overflow. 

- This is melt water. The water itself is very dilute and the environmental effects are likely to be minor, Pietarinen believes.

The power outage also caused a small overflow at the Päivärinteenkatu pumping station

There was a half-hour power outage at the Päivärinteenkatu pumping station yesterday. During that time, the sewage pumps did not work.

- Some waste water got into the Hallikkajoki from there too, maybe dozens of cubic meters, Pietarinen says. 

According to him, there would have been no overflow without the power outage. On the other hand, if the flow had been at a normal level, a half-hour power cut would not have caused an overflow either. 

The environmental engineer of the Imatra region's environmental department Helena Kaittolan according to the report, the waste water that overflowed from both pumping stations has been dilute and its proportion relative to the water volumes of Vuoksi and Hallikaanjoki is small.

- Also taking into account the time of year, I consider that sampling is not necessary at either site, Kaittola states.

For more information:

Water supply manager Kari Pietarinen, kari.pietarinenimatra.fi (kari[dot]pietarinen[at]imatra[dot]fi), p. 020 617 4399

Added Helena Kaittola's comments on March 31.3.2021, 13.45 at XNUMX:XNUMX p.m.