"Dead sludge" that piled up during a job action at a Southwest Philadelphia sewage plant romped out of its tanks to cause another violation of the plant's discharge limits Friday.
Heavy rains sent water from storm sewers racing through the plant, washing dried-up sludge out of primary treatment tanks where it had accumulated, the Water Department said yesterday.
The result: a violation of the legal discharge limit of 60 milligrams of treated sewage solids per liter of water. During Friday's rainstorm, 144 milligrams per liter gushed into the Delaware River, said Water Department spokeswoman Joanne Dahme.
