City in Maine Battles Giant Blob in Sewer Line

You haven't seen disgusting until you've seen the mysterious blob that is backing up a sewer line in Lewiston, Maine. The public works crew has been working since January 13th to budge the huge blob but has been unsuccessful.

The blob is approximately 90-feet and is thought to consist of grease, flour and rags. Deputy Public Services Director, Kevin Gagne, believes the only way to solve this problem will be to replace the 170-foot line which will cost the city between $40,000 and $60,000. The city plans to begin work this week to repair the sewer line. In March of 2000 the city of Lewiston was awarded $290,152 in Public Assistance (PA) funding by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the State of Maine to repair a sewer line that was damaged during a heavy storm that hit the area. The storm caused heavy water flow to dislodge bricks and clog the channel.

While inspecting the location of the blockage, it was determined that the remaining portions of the sewer were cracked and in danger of dislodging, causing the complete failure of this section of the combined sanitary/storm sewer system.

The repairs were said to prevent future back-ups and flooding caused by high peak water flows from storms. However, it is unlikely that the storm in the year 2000 had anything to do with the blockage this past month.