It's a dual mission: to repair a break is a large sewage pipe and then to recover the raw sewage that has spilled into valley creek.
Normally, it is a quiet corner of the sprawling park, perfect for a picnic, but not now.
Now, it is the center of an emergency sewage recovery operation using heavy equipment.
Over the weekend an estimated 15,000 gallons of raw sewage bubbled up and spilled into the pristine Valley Creek due to a fracture at the bottom of the normally buried 24 inch line.
"Right now, approximately 20% is leaking out of the pipe and that is what we are pumping right now," US Park Ranger John Waterman told Action News Tuesday afternoon.
The line and sewage belongs to Tyedyffrin Township which quickly put together this effort.
An attempt to wrap a metal and rubber sleeve around the outside of the pipe and stop the leak failed yesterday, but operators slowed the flow and now several high capacity pumps can pull up the spilled waste as fast and it leaks out.
That sewage is then loaded into a fleet of tankers that truck the waste to where it can be safely treated.
"We're in a holding pattern right now, we're able to control and contain the fluid coming out of the pipe; we're waiting for some options for a temporary fix to seal the hole," Waterman said.
The Valley Creek meanders through the park past Washington's Headquarters to the Schuylkill River.
The DEP says there is no indication the spill significantly impacted water quality.
"The Valley Creek looks exceptional right now. There have been no impacts to the creek at all. No fish kills at all," Dave Wolfinger of the Department of Environmental Protection said.
