SEVERE
WEATHER LEADS TO SEWER SPILL
CARY,
NC – Friday
night’s rains led to a wastewater overflow on the grounds of the Walnut
Creek pump station near the 1100 block of Buck Jones Road in eastern
Cary.
While officials are continuing to refine their calculations,
it is believed that more than 15,000 gallons
of untreated wastewater escaped from a pump station manhole, running
into a rain-swollen Walnut Creek.
No fish kill was observed.
Repair
crews were called to the scene around 7:30
p.m. Friday by an
automated dialer, which alerts public works crews to possible pump
station problems via telephone.
Wastewater began escaping from the manhole just after 8
p.m., and the flow
was so strong from infiltrating rainwater that the manhole cover
actually blew off about 30 minutes later.
The overflow ended around 9:20
p.m.
Because of the fast-moving, high volume of water in the
swollen stream, the untreated wastewater was heavily diluted making
stream cleanup unnecessary.
The Clean Water
Act requires public notice in the form of a news release issued by
public works operators within 48 hours of the detection of a
wastewater overflow of 1,000 gallons or greater that also reaches
surface waters. Paid
advertisements are also necessary for spills in excess of 14,999
gallons.
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