Columbia City Council has approved an engineering contract to repair about 2,500 feet of a sewer system which led to a major fish kill last year..
Multiple failures have affected the Clear Creek force main and pump station since its installment in 2010, resulting in six breaks on the main and several sewage spills. Most notably, in September of 2024, an estimated 40,000 gallons of sewage killed hundreds of fish and other aquatic life in a section of the creek that flows through Rock Bridge Memorial State Park.
The Missouri Department of Natural Resources has cited the city because of these issues.
Roxie Campbell is a naturalist for the park. She explained that while the city organized a major cleanup effort immediately following the incident, the aquatic systems remain at risk.
“Unfortunately, it's just a situation when you do have a lot of infrastructure upstream of the park that makes the park vulnerable when systems fail,” Campbell said. “I am very pleased that they are putting the finances into redoing this section that apparently was just not built very well to start with.”
Campbell said families and young children like to play in the water during the summer months, and she has often taken groups there for educational programs.
Matt Nestor is the city’s Utilities Public Information Specialist. He said this project to rehabilitate the issues is meant to avoid any future problems.
“We can't have a 100% guarantee, but to try to mitigate the issues so that we see less issues with that particular pump station.” Nestor said.
He said there is currently no timeline for the project.
