The Inyo Street and Joaquin Street intersections at Pacific Avenue on the north side could be closed for upwards of a week. | Screenshot

County and city crews are trying to determine what caused a sewer lift station to become completely submerged in water.

Until then, the intersections of Inyo Street at Pacific Avenue and Joaquin Street at Pacific Avenue on the north side will be closed to traffic, Del Norte County Community Development Director Heidi Kunstal told the Wild Rivers Outpost on Tuesday. Resolving the issue and reopening those two intersections could take upward of a week, she said.

Crescent City crews discovered the malfunction Sunday afternoon and notified the county.

“The dry well is completely submerged in water, which means all the electronics, pumps and motor are all submerged in water,” she said. “What’s happening now is we’ve hired a firm from Anderson who’s set up a temporary bypass pumping system so we’re able to redirect the effluent that’s coming into that station to another location that can pump it.”

A vactor truck from Eureka is also on scene to prevent overflow, Kunstal said.

This will allow county crews to get into the dry well and remove the motors and electronic gear, dry them and determine what still functions and what may need to be replaced, Kunstal said. County engineering staff aren’t yet sure what caused the malfunction, she said.

According to Kunstal, other than the traffic detour, residents shouldn’t notice a difference in service.

“I was told there is an odor,” she said. “Unfortunately that’s unavoidable.”

Pacific Avenue is still open to traffic, though parking isn’t permitted between Grand Avenue and Glenn Street, according to a county news release Monday. Motorists needing access to Inyo or Joaquin can detour from Pacific Avenue onto Glenn Street and then to Macken Avenue.

For more information, call the Community Development Department from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday at (707) 464-7229.

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