CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITY CAUSES SEWER OVERFLOW

CARY, NC – A contractor working for the North Carolina Department of Transportation on the U.S. 1/64 widening project struck and punctured a Town of Cary sewer line, leading to a sewer spill estimated at 18,000-36,000 gallons on Saturday, April 29 about 11 a.m.  The incident occurred near the 1600 block of Kildonan Place just north of Cary Parkway in eastern Cary .  The untreated waste reached an unnamed tributary of Swift Creek and was halted at Wellington Lake before making its way to Swift Creek; no fish-kill was observed.

Officials investigated the cause of the mishap and found that the Town had improperly marked the location of the sewer line.

After temporarily diverting the waste flow from the damaged 16” force-main line, Town crews repaired the pipe while simultaneously performing the spill cleanup.  For nearly 18 hours, crews flushed all affected areas, utilizing about 171,000 gallons of de-chlorinated water and pumped the flushing water back into the Town of Cary sanitary sewer collection system.

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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