Columbia deals with sewage blockage

The City of Columbia says raw sewage has been cleaned from a Columbia waterway.

The city says the grease blockage caused an overflow of sewage that affected the Juniper Ridge neighborhood area near Rock Quarry Road, just south of Nifong.

People who live near the unnamed tributary that feeds into the Clear and Gans Creeks could smell the sewage.

Steve Sapp, Columbia’s community relations director, says the city got a call about the problem on Sunday. Crews were unable to locate the blockage on Sunday, but returned Monday, with a CCTV camera and found the problem.

After crews pumped the tainted water they flushed the creek with clean water from Columbia’s water distribution system. He says crews then “pump that water back into the sanitary sewer system and rinse and repeat several times.”

The city says the water in the neighborhood is safe to drink and the plumbing should be operating normally.