PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — City officials are inspecting the cause of a severe drainage backup in the Medical Examiner’s Office on Wednesday, located at the new police headquarters on Broad Street.
According to an email sent out by top police brass, officials noticed the drainage issue around 2 p.m. on the first floor — where autopsies are conducted. Sewage flowed down into the detention center below, in the basement, where suspects are held.
Officers had to move all of those who were jailed from the basement to other holding cells around the city.
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In a statement, a city spokesperson said they are still assessing the situation and “need to do further testing to identify exactly what was the actual source of the leak.”
Both the Medical Examiner’s Office and the detention center will remain off-site as the city continues to inspect the cause, make any additional repairs and “deep-clean” the facility.
Other police units, like the 9th District and Homicide Unit, only recently moved into the building.
A spokesperson for the health department said all wastewater from the Medical Examiner’s Office goes into the regular sewage system and wastewater treatment facility, which is always considered a biohazard.
The EPA says there is no federal policy about the disposal of bodily fluids from medical examiner offices, and they leave it up to the state to investigate. A spokesperson from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection said if a regulated source, like a storm drain, was impacted, they would not go out to investigate. Anything inside is typically not inspected by the state’s agency.