Pulaski moving forward to fix collapsed Salmon River retaining wall

With the wall gone, more erosion could flood or damage pump station and send thousands of gallons of sewage into Salmon River.

Gary Walts / The Post-StandardThe rain-swollen Salmon River washed out parts of a concrete retaining wall and banks on River Street in Pulaski.

Pulaski, NY -- Engineers are working on plans to fix the collapsed retaining wall in Pulaski and are coming up with the amount for how much the fix will cost, Mayor Ernest Wheeler said Monday morning.

He also is continuing to reach out to state and federal officials to get money to pay for weekend expenses to shore up the wall area and pay for the upcoming construction of a new wall. He said he should have the cost firmed up by the end of the week.

"We called our engineering firm and I've called the Army Corps of Engineers. They're working together and I'm calling today to see what progress they've made," he said.

The huge concrete retaining wall that runs along the bank of the Salmon River in the village collapsed Friday after the heavy Thursday rains. The fear was with more erosion of the soil now that the wall is gone, the village's pump station for its sewage would be in danger of flooding or being damaged.

"About 90 percent of the village sewage goes through that plant which pumps it to the sewage treatment plant," Wheeler said. If the plant or the sewage pipe beneath the river were damaged, then thousands of gallons of sewage would go into the Salmon River -- one of the most prized fishing areas in Upstate New York that draws hundreds of tourists and fishermen to Oswego County.

Wheeler said village Department of Public Works crews worked overtime this weekend to stabilize the shoreline where the wall collapsed. He said 320 tons of rock from King Quarry in Rodman were brought in and placed in the area.

He said that is holding for now, but he worries what will happen if another heavy rain comes.

In 1984, the Salmon River flooded in Pulaski with 29,000 cubic feet of water rushing through the village. Friday, there was 26,000 cubic feet of water in the river coming through Pulaski, Wheeler said.