By Richard Kerns
rkerns@newstribune.info
Tribune Staff Writer

KEYSER — City crews have finished removing fill material from the back yard of an Oak Street residence where a possibly polluted water source was flowing into a backyard alley.
Jim Hannas, supervisor of streets and sewers, said the water from the site has been tested and found to be free of fecal coliform. The bacteria, which usually indicates the presence of human or animal waste, was present in an earlier test. However, city officials suspect it may have been tainted by old terra cotta sewer pipe that had been dumped in the fill over the water source.
“The health inspector said we’re good with the water,” Hannas said at Wednesday’s meeting of the city’s Sanitary Board. “We can do whatever we want.”
With the weekend’s heavy rain, Hannas said the water was flowing heavily at the site Wednesday, indicating a wet-weather spring. As part of the project, a new drainage system will be installed along the alley, including a catch basin to accommodate flow from the

(See BACTERIA, page 4)
spring.
City crews began working at the property one week ago, removing old fill that had been dumped on the lot about five years ago as part of a sewer line replacement project elsewhere in the city. When water from the lot tested positive for bacteria, state officials directed the city to determine the source, and the only way that could be done was to remove the fill.
Two local contractors submitted bids of $12,000 and $15,000 for the work, which the city council rejected as too high. Instead, the project was completed in-house by city crews.