Thousands of gallons of sewage discharged in Brevard

BREVARD — After days of heavy rain, thousands of gallons of untreated sewage were discharged from two city sewer pump stations.

One discharge occurred Saturday morning at the Neely Road station and continued for nearly 31 hours, said city manager Jim Fatland.

Sewage was also discharged from the sewer pump station on Gallimore Road on Saturday morning and continued for about 20 hours, Fatland said. The spill was the result of heavy rain and the discharge at the Neely Road station, he said. In total, 326,152 gallons were discharged from Gallimore Road and reached the French Broad River.

Collections System and Maintenance Division personnel stayed on duty and monitored pump speed and pressures, Fatland said. Pump and haul personnel were able to capture 51 loads or 127,500 gallons of waste in the Neely Road incident, which was disposed of at the Waste Treatment Facility. In total, 704,520 gallons discharged from the Neely Road site. The estimated volume reaching the French Broad River was about 577,020 gallons in that incident.

In the 11-day period from Sept. 24 through Oct. 4, Brevard received 12.49 inches of rain.

The N.C. Division of Water Quality has been notified of the discharges. Brevard entered into a settlement agreement with the state in 2013 for infrastructure upgrades. That agreement ends in January 2016.

Landon Davidson of the state Division of Water Resources said Brevard has made "measurable improvements" in its infrastructure, which shortened the length of time sewage spilled in this incident.

Construction on upgrades is set to begin in the near future, he said. "We're well along that path," he said.

The city of Brevard spends about $100,000 annually toward ongoing efforts to eliminate rain-attributed sanitary overflows from broken or improperly attached sewer lines, cleanouts, roof drains and sump pumps, through repair, public education and capital improvement projects, the city says.

French Broad Riverkeeper Hartwell Carson said sewage in the river is a major concern for health. Major rainfall dilutes the river, however, so data on bacteria levels in the river following the spill would be hard to track, he said.

"It's disappointing to see something that large when they're supposed to be getting better," Carson said of the sewage discharge.