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When it rains, it pours — and it smells.

There was recently a major sanitary sewer spill involving thousands of gallons of raw sewage in south Liberty off of Withers Road. The spill occurred when a lift station operated by Kansas City failed to handle the flow that apparently came through during a period of heavy rain.

“It is clear the flow was in excess of the system’s capacity,” Liberty Public Works Director Steve Hansen said.

Much of the sewage flow comes from the area west of Interstate 35.

Remnants of the spill could still be seen late last week, four feet high on the interior of the fence surrounding the lift station. The hatch was blown wide open.

A private contractor brought in by Kansas City was cleaning up the site and set to clean out the line Friday, June 5.

Lee Boggess, whose family owns the land where the lift station is located, said it is not the first time this has happened.

“It has happened at least four times that I know of since the lift station was installed back in 2003,” he said.

Hansen acknowledged the lift station had a history of difficulties.

“This system from the start has been fraught with problems that still haven’t been resolved to date,” he said.

Among the problems is the telemetry at the lift station, which is supposed to provide notification when there are problems.

The lift station operations will eventually be turned over to Liberty.

Boggess said a long-term solution needs to be found.

“From the design and how they built this system, it is clear that it was doomed to fail,” he said.

Boggess has also questioned the size of the different sewer lines, the amount of flow and how the lines come together.

Hansen said the sewage travels south of the site in parallel lines much of the way to the regional treatment center.

He said while much of Kansas City’s sewer line is gravity fed, there are at least two lift stations needed with the overall length of the line and the terrain.

Senior writer Mark Johnson can be reached at 781-4941 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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