An unknown amount of raw sewage recently flowed into the Lehigh River before a break-in was discovered at the Weissport Pumping Station.

Weissport Borough Council President Gene Kershner said that about midnight on May 18, raw sewage was discovered to be leaking from a manhole cover and was traced back to an open door at the pumping station.Kershner said they found the door had been jimmied open with what appeared to be a screwdriver and that the pump wasn't working because one of the air controllers was unplugged.Assisting Kershner at the scene was Guy Frehulfer, former mayor and a former member of the Weissport Municipal Authority. Kershner said that as soon as Frehulfer plugged in the air controller, the pump started up.Kershner said the incident was reported to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and state police at Lehighton.Kershner said it is unknown how long the door to the pumping station remained open and how long it took to fill the well before the manhole began leaking."That open well is at least 35 feet deep," Kershner said. "Who knows how long the door was open. What if a kid had wandered in and fallen. It could have had dire circumstances."Kershner said that nothing else was touched, and that in his opinion, the sabotage had been done by someone who knew exactly how to have the pump shut down."We were worried at first that someone broke in looking for copper or had vandalized the interior," Kershner said.Kershner said the effluent wasn't from Weissport homes, but was the line which feeds in from Franklin Township.He said it didn't take the pump long to take the level down 10 to 12 feet in the tower.Kershner said he called the Communication Center, which called out Arland Moyer, who is Weissport's emergency management coordinator.Moyer is also a member of Weissport Council.Kershner said the pumping station was built sometime in the mid-1970s and that this was the first time it was vandalized.