CARY, NC – Town of Cary Police are investigating a case of vandalism that caused a sanitary sewage spill yesterday on Gingergate Drive in Cary’s Whitebridge subdivision. Approximately 1,300 gallons of untreated waste escaped from a manhole intentionally blocked by rocks, sticks, and twine. The sewage did reach an unnamed tributary that flows to Preston Lake, but no waste reached the lake itself and no fish kill was observed.

Repair crews, who were called to the scene around 9:00 AM Monday morning by an observant citizen, unplugged the clogged line, installed a temporary dam to keep the waste from traveling downstream, limed and flushed the affected area, and pumped the waste back into the municipal system.

The Clean Water Act adopted by the State Legislature requires that a news release be issued by public works operators whenever a wastewater spill of 1,000 gallons or greater reaches surface waters.

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