Clean water advocates are celebrating a major victory for Slocum Creek in Havelock after a long-running source of raw sewage was finally cut off.
For three years, water quality tests in Wolf Pit Branch showed dangerously high bacteria levels. Now, Neuse Riverkeeper Samantha Krop says they’ve found—and fixed—the smoking gun: a straight pipe discharging raw sewage directly from a residential septic system into the waterway.
She said, "That straight pipe has been removed, the system has been fixed, and this is a major win for clean water because one known issue has been taken off the map."
The discovery came after DNA testing confirmed the pollution was human. Krop worked with the Craven County Health Department to pinpoint the failing system. She notes that while this repair is a win, it highlights a massive gap in public infrastructure: the need for better ways to identify failing systems and more funding to help homeowners afford expensive repairs.
Recent sampling on Slocum Creek has come back clean, and while Sound Rivers can’t yet pin the improvement solely on this one fix, they are continuing targeted testing in partnership with UNC’s Institute of Marine Sciences.
