The 34,000 people who live in West Salem were left without sewer service Friday afternoon as officials urged them to avoid disposing of water.
The culprits were two failed sewer lines, which forced city crews to let raw sewage spill from pipelines onto fields and parkland in West Salem as they scrambled to make repairs.
Repairs to one pipe should be completed overnight.
Drinking water is not affected and remains safe to drink. But the city is urging people not to flush toilets and to delay “non-essential” water uses such as for cleaning dishes and laundry.
We at Salem Reporter are keeping a close eye on repairs and will update as we learn more.
We also wanted to let you know we'll be pausing our evening newsletter next week as a number of our staff are off around the holidays. You'll still get our headlines each morning, and we'll resume evening newsletters on Monday, Jan. 6.
Here's some of our latest news. Catch all of our reports anytime on our website.
Priscilla Aldana, 43, of Salem, was last known to be in the area of Southeast Lancaster Drive and Southeast Hagers Grove Road around 4 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 20. She…
Mark Wardell, the leader of West Salem’s Community Emergency Response Team, walks through shelter considerations during a disaster, and an upcoming community training.
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