Sewage leak temporarily cuts off water to 350,000 Kansas city-area customers

Telephone company contractors laying fiber-optic cable have accidentally bored into a sewage line, causing water treatment officials to shut down the district's Kansas River intake.

July 5, 2001

KANSAS CITY, July 5, 2001 — Telephone company contractors laying fiber-optic cable have accidentally bored into a sewage line, causing water treatment officials to shut down the district's Kansas River intake.

More than 3,000 gallons of raw sewage have spilled from a 5-inch hole in a 16-inch line upstream from the Johnson County Water District No. 1 treatment plant in Shawnee, The Kansas City Star has reported.

Water supplies to roughly 350,000 customers now will come from the district's alternative source, the Missouri River.

To learn more, visit the Kansas City Star's web site at http://www.kcstar.com/.