OWASA Cleans Up Wastewater Spill

On Wednesday, 1,750 gallons of wastewater spilled into the Booker Creek drainage basin between Dobbins and Erwin roads.

The spill was caused by a grease blockage in the sewer. The wastewater was able to flow down into the creek, which prevented the Orange Water and Sewage Authority from being able to pump it back into the sewer, said Greg Feller, director of public affairs for OWASA.

The spill was reported at 9:20 a.m. and was stopped 25 minutes later by OWASA employees who were working in the area at the time of the spill.

"We weren't able to clean up any of the wastewater," Feller said, but added, "There's no indication this has caused a fish kill."

Feller said OWASA treated the area chemically with lyme to disinfect it.

Susan Massengale, public information officer with the N.C. Division of Water Quality, said that there was not a lot of impact on the water and that any water that might be used for drinking goes through many filtering processes before it reaches residents.

After noon, OWASA alerted the division that a spill had occurred, but the division did not send anyone to the site, Massengale said.

N.C. House Bill 1160 requires OWASA to contact the division to report spills of more than 1,000 gallons of wastewater within 24 hours and release news of the spill to the community.

Wastewater is any water that has been used for household, business or other purposes and then flows to the local sewer system.

Blockage of the sewer by grease caused the wastewater to flow into an nearby ditch and then ultimately into the creek.

Grease blockages are one of the most common causes of spills, with stormwater leaking into sewers, tree and shrub root blockages and general pump failures being other causes.

Grease comes from homes, where people dump fats, oils and greases down their drains and into sewers. The sewers are not able to process the grease well, and it builds up, which causes blockages.

From July 2001 to June 2002, there were 21 reported spills in Orange County, of which six or more were from grease blockages.

"In general, 20 percent to 30 percent of spills can be related to grease," Feller said.

Each year 2.9 billion gallons of wastewater is processed by the local Mason Farm Wastewater Treatment Plant. The total volume of spills measures 27,190 gallons, which is less than .00001 percent of the total processed.

The City Editor can be reached at citydesk@unc.edu.