Thursday, March 28, 2024

As rain persists, CFPUA sewers keep spilling into Burnt Mill Creek

The second incident this week, on Tuesday six different sewer overflows sent wastewater into the waterway.

The neighborhood is bordered to the west by Wallace Park, which runs alongside Burnt Mill Creek, seen here from Market Street.

WILMINGTON — Just two days after the last spill, the Cape Fear Public Utility Authority battled multiple sewer overflows as an over-capacity system spilled from multiple locations into Burnt Mill Creek.

According to CFPUA, “crews investigated several sanitary sewer overflows (SSO) along Burnt Mill Creek on Tuesday, July 31.”

As with the spill on Sunday, July 29, CFPUA found that “ongoing heavy rainfall and already saturated ground conditions which overloaded the sewer system beyond capacity.”

According to CFPUA Chief of Operations Frank Styer described the difficult situation.

“You’ve got a large service area, from the river to UNCW on College Road, all feeding by gravity to one pump — that’s pump station 10 behind Screen Gems,” Styer said.

That pump, Styer said, has been taxed by handling “infiltration and influx.” With the ground in the area saturated with water, rain is “sheeting” across areas that usually absorb rainfall. The higher water levels from persistent rainfall also cause water to drain into sewer, through manholes covers, and through other parts of the sewer systems.

Styer said CFPUA has set up an additional diesel pump at the Burnt Mill Creek area to help increase capacity.

A total of six CFPUA sewer spills were reported, totaling nearly 8,000 gallons of wastewater spilled into Burnt Mill Creek.

  • Grady Avenue: Crews discovered the SSO at 9:40 am. Operations began immediately. 2100 gallons were released during pump and haul operations while switching trucks.
  • 21st Street: The SSO started at 11:00 am and ended at 2:00 pm. Spill volume was estimated to be 900 gallons.
  • Klein Road: The SSO started at 12:25 pm and stopped at 2:00 pm. Spill volume was estimated to be 475 gallons.
  • 21st and Chestnut Street: The spill began at 12:25 pm. It was stopped at 4:30 pm. Spill volume was estimated to be 1225 gallons.
  • Wallace Park Sand Box: The spill started at 11:30 am. It ended at 4:30 pm. Spill volume was estimated to be 1500 gallons.
  • 1100 Market Street: A main sewer line became blocked, leading to overflow. This spill started at 10:35 am. Crews stopped the SSO at 2:20 pm. According to CFPUA, 4,500 gallons spilled, but 3,000 gallons were captured and pumped back into the sewers.

CFPUA continues to sample and test water from the Burnt Mill Creek watershed which, as Port City Daily has previously reported, currently has at least seven times more fecal coliform bacteria than state and federal guidelines for recreational water recommend.

 

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