The cove is not used for swimming or shellfishing, Public Works director Stephen Coutu said yesterday, and residents' sewage systems are not affected.

The Watchemoket Pumping Station, on Veterans Memorial Parkway, is the largest pumping station in the East Providence system, taking sewage in from most of the city, Coutu said.

A total of 1,086,560 gallons of sewage was discharged into the cove. "It was a pretty frantic emergency down there," Coutu said. "It's a lot of water."

The city brought in emergency pumps and pipes, and was able to chlorinate much of the discharge before it hit the cove.

It wasn't full treatment, Coutu said, but the chlorine killed much of the bacteria. No further remediation is planned for the cove.

Now, Coutu said, "we're in dry-up and cleanup mode" at the pumping station, trying to assess the damage and save what equipment they can.

The emergency systems are handling the pump station's work for now, Coutu said, and sewer service in the city is functioning as usual.

The mechanical failure may have been caused by power fluctuations, Coutu said.

-- projo.com staff writer Brandie M. Jefferson

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Story Source: Providence Journal