As the cleanup continues and questions remain over why it happened, a man who’s made it his mission to keep the river clean, has plenty of concerns.
Kevin Zak, with the Naugatuck River Revival Group, says anyone who comes down the river, at least for now, should do so at their own risk, as it is unclear just how much is left of the more than five million gallons of sewage that was released into the river earlier this month.
Over the weekend, Zak, who’s dedicated his last 12 years to cleaning this river, and even got married in it, took his camera and a drone to get an up close look, finding dead fish, sewage, and city workers picking out waste from the river.
“It’s a losing battle, hands and knees and they deserve a medal,” Zak said.
Waterbury’s Water Pollution Control Plant says a subcontractor doing work cut an electrical line, and when the generators didn’t kick in and with the tank overflowing, the city released the sewage into the river.
“There must have been utter panic at the plant, so you can’t fault for that.
Your toilet starts to back up, you’re hoping it doesn’t go over the top, we’ve all had that panic.
Zak says he’s glad the city and the state are investigating.
On Wednesday, crews were out collecting water samples and on Thursday Channel 3 spotted environmental contractors down by the river, but he says the communication needs to be better.
This is a lesson and not just for Waterbury,” Zak said.