GRAND ISLAND, Neb. -- A Nebraska volunteer diver has received a flood of thank-yous and gifts after he dove into 15 feet of sewage to help fix a sewage feeder line malfunction.

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Two weeks ago, Grand Island, Neb., declared a sewer emergency. Diver Dave Lemburg spent 20 minutes submerged in raw sewage to shut off a broken valve at the city's wastewater treatment plant.

Lemburg has been receiving five or six letters a day. Most are addressed to "the Grand Island Hero," and almost all are from strangers.

Some sent money, others tried humor, sending antibacterial wipes and bottles of hand sanitizer. However, Lemburg remains humble.

"I did this out of the kindness of my heart, not to win any awards," he said.

Lemburg is a volunteer with the city's dive and rescue team.

He said the current in the sewage was strong, so he strapped 40 pounds of lead onto his gear and was lowered down on a rope.

"It was the nastiest stuff you'll ever encounter, but if I'd kept calling it that, I'd never have gone down to do the job," Lemburg said.

He said he was lucky, the rope was the right length, and the valve was right in front of him. He spent the next 15 minutes trying to close the valve with a wrench.

"You have to mentally block all of the nasty stuff out and look at the situation at hand," he said.

Slowly, the sewage began to go down.

"I thought of all those people's basements and Christmas coming up, and I thought, 'This would not be good,'" Lemburg said.

Lemburg said even diving for bodies did not compare to this mission.