News release from the City of Coos Bay. On Saturday, December 20 and Sunday, December 21, the City of Coos Bay experienced two sanitary sewer overflows of fully treated and disinfected plant effluent in the outfall to the bay. The overflows were caused by heavy flows and high tide. The discharge line into the bay was hydraulically overloaded due to an extremely high tide, and effluent backed up and came out of a manhole. When the tide began to recede, the overflows ceased. A total of 21,000 gallons of treated effluent was reported to Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, Oregon Emergency Response System and Oregon Department of Agriculture regarding the two events.
