Sewer Line Breaks at North High School

A main sewer line at North High School collapsed Wednesday, forcing school officials to close most of the restrooms on the east side of the campus and order a dozen portable toilets that will be set up today.

School officials said that the sewer line became clogged Monday afternoon and was plugged to prevent a sewage spill. Joe Zeiler, assistant vice principal of maintenance, said a rooter was unable to clear the line Tuesday and by Wednesday the clay pipe had collapsed.

Zeiler said a small amount of sewage has come up in some bathrooms. Sewage has also come up in drains behind the health office and near the athletic director’s office.

“It’s more of a bad smell than anything else,” Zeiler said.

Torrance Unified School District officials said the collapsed pipe was on the list of major projects that the district had planned to fix with funds from a twice-defeated school bond measure.

The school, which was built in 1955, has had problems with its aging gas, sewer and water lines.

“This has been an ongoing problem that has been fixed in the past by putting a Band-Aid on it,” said Kevin Condon, chief business officer. “We’ll have to use the maintenance budget to fix it and something else will have to go.”