Officials with a local environmental group say a massive sewage spill in Havelock just over a week ago is step backward for a city working toward resolving ongoing pollution.
Neuse Riverkeeper Samantha Krop said there is an urgent need for investment in infrastructure, operator training and staff capacity, because nearly 600,000 gallons of sewage should not spill from the Havelock treatment facility into Slocum Creek after one inch of rain.
Another 6,000 gallons were also released from a manhole into Joe’s Branch, a small tributary of Slocum Creek, and Sound Rivers collected water samples there to test for E. coli, which all came back well over the recommended limit for fecal bacteria.
The nearly 600,000-gallon spill at the wastewater treatment facility in Havelock is being called the largest in the town’s history, topping the 500,000-gallon spill at the same site in January.
Last week’s significant rainfall in eastern North Carolina unleashed a torrent of sewage spills across the region and not just in Havelock.
About 200,000 gallons of sewage made its way from a manhole in Rocky Mount to the adjacent storm water drain, which flows directly into the Tar River.
There were 1.3 million gallons of sewage spilled in five separate incidents there last year and Sound Rivers’ Pamlico-Tar Riverkeeper Katey Zimmerman anticipated it would happen again.
The Tar River runs high with runoff at the park where the storm water outfall is located.
The spill was reported to the North Carolina Department of Quality and officials collected water samples to test for fecal coliform.
