Raw sewage floods Salt Lake truck stop


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SALT LAKE CITY — As much as 200 gallons of raw sewage flooded the parking lot of a truck stop Monday morning before the spill was contained, according to the Salt Lake County Health Department.

Because of ongoing remodeling work, bathroom trailers had been set up in the parking lot for customers at the Sapp Bros. gas station and convenience store, 1953 W. California Ave., officials said.

Earlier that morning, someone tried to flush a large cotton item — believed to be a T-shirt — down one of the bathroom drains. Employees called a plumbing company to fix the clog, but the backed up sewage immediately emptied into the parking lot, according health department spokesman Nicholas Rupp.

"We’re estimating between 100 to 200 gallons of sewage," he said. "It just ended up running out of the bathroom trailer onto the parking lot."

Roughly 50 to 60 trucks were parked near the sewage overflow, Rupp said.

Most of the sewage drained off the parking lot into an enclosed retention area designed to handle potential fuel spills and not connected to community waterways or sewage systems.

"We’re lucky that all of that sewage ended up in that self-contained retention area," Rupp said.

County health inspectors are supervising the cleanup.

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Ashley Stilson

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