500,000 gallons of raw sewage spilled into Tuckaseigee

By Lisa Majors-Duff

The raw sewage entered Mill Creek at the intersection of Bullfrog Cove Road and South River Road, said TWSA Wastewater Operations Superintendent Stan Bryson.

"We knew our flow was down on Friday, but we didn't know why," said Bryson, who used flow indicators at TWSA's wastewater treatment plant between Dillsboro and Webster to estimate a loss of about 125,000 gallons a day.

Once the site of the spill was discovered, the cause was quickly deduced, Bryson said.

"High water along that area of the creek washed out the creek bank and left the line out in the open," he said. "The exposed area is where it broke."

"Age had nothing to do with (the spill)," TWSA Executive Director Jerry King said Tuesday. "With no support under the line, the weight of the pipe caused it to crack.

"It's just one of those hazards we have in rural areas," King continued. "It's not like in a city where most of the lines are along the streets."

The line, which Bryson described as a 12-inch clay pipe, was installed by the county to carry raw sewage to the treatment facility on North River Road, which was constructed in 1975. The plant is rated to handle up to 1.5 million gallons of wastewater per day.

TWSA's wastewater treatment facility No. 1 was operated by Jackson County prior to the 1992 establishment of the authority. That's when officials with the county and the towns of Sylva, Dillsboro and Webster, facing a 1993 deadline to conform with the Safe Drinking Water Act, came together to form the authority.

The N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources' Division of Water Quality was notified of the spill on Monday, Bryson said. According to state statutes, the authority is required to report spills of 1,000 gallons or more.

"State officials inspected the site Monday," he said.

After replacing about 40 feet of cracked pipe by 1 p.m. Monday, TWSA workers rebuilt the creek bank that washed away, said Bryson. No plans are in place to replace the entire line, he said.

"That's when we have spills, when something unusual happens," Bryson said.

This weekend's spill was "larger and over a longer period of time" than a similar spill three months ago, Bryson said. Approximately 108,000 gallons of untreated sewage spilled directly from the No. 1 facility into the Tuckaseigee in May, the result of a pump failure at the plant.

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