Workers Hope to Reopen Broken Sewage Line Today

As the first in a series of showers rolled into Ventura County, repair teams finally mended a storm-ravaged Thousand Oaks sewer main Thursday--but the flow of raw sewage into a hillside creek will not stop before the line is reopened late today.

By then, an estimated 63 million gallons of sewage will have spilled into the Arroyo Conejo and headed to the Pacific Ocean, 15 miles downstream.

If the line holds under pressure this afternoon, it will have been 10 1/2 days since torrential rains undercut the 30-inch concrete pipeline--snapping it in three places and closing nearly 30 miles of beaches in two counties because of potential health hazards.

The ruptured sewer main--which usually carries 60% of the city’s sewage--was repaired Thursday when workers reconnected the concrete line with a 60-foot length of steel, cinched the steel and concrete together with huge collars and sealed the seams with tons of concrete.

An initial repair last Friday washed out when a punishing new storm undercut the line before the concrete seals hardened. This time, workers are waiting for the seals to harden and will slowly reapply pressure to the pipe before rerouting millions of gallons through the line.

Thousand Oaks is working under an order from state water officials to fix the line--which has ruptured three times since 1989--and make sure it never breaks again.