April 24, 2018 – Charlotte Water (CLTWater) crews responded to a broken wastewater pipe near Oakdale Road, at the confluence of McIntyre Creek and Long Creek on April 23rd. Crews are working to estimate gallons that may have reached Long Creek, part of the Catawba River Watershed.
30″ Wastewater Pipe at the bank of Long Creek
A wastewater pipe was 50 feet from the creek bank, a fallen tee eroded the creek bank and caused the 30″ wastewater pipe to break, possibly due to Monday evening’s storm.
Charlotte Water is currently notifying downstream residents, mobilizing crews and resources to control the spill, and make repairs.
This spill does not affect drinking water.
Updates will follow with details as they are available.
October 26, 2017 — Pumping operations have resumed after a streambank collapsed early Thursday morning at the repair site of a 36” wastewater main. Staff estimates that an additional 100,000 gallons was spilled onto the streambank, some of which may have entered Mallard Creek just east of the intersection of N. Tryon St. and E. Mallard Creek Church Rd. The location is the work site to repair a 36” wastewater main that broke during Monday evening’s storms.
Operations to bypass pump wastewater from the break area to a nearby wastewater pipe have been successful until the minor collapse of streambank caused a temporary bypass line to dislodge and spill wastewater. Most of the spilled volume from the bypass line was contained before it was able to reach the creek. The wastewater captured will be vacuumed and properly treated at the wastewater treatment plant.
Charlotte Water staff is monitoring operations around the clock and responded quickly to restore the bypass operation. State officials have been updated and work to repair the broken pipe is ongoing. Staff anticipates repairs of the streambank and 36” sewer line will likely continue through the next 7 – 10 days weather permitting.
Charlotte Water is actively repairing a 36” wastewater main that was broken by a tree after Monday evening’s storms. Staff estimates that 4.7 million gallons entered Mallard Creek just east of the intersection of N. Tryon St. and E. Mallard Creek Church Rd. where the break in the pipe was found Tuesday morning.
View of fallen tree across Mallard Creek. White discharge of wastewater can be seen in foreground.
The break was discovered when staff at the Mallard Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant observed unusually low levels of wastewater flow entering the plant and worked quickly to determine the cause of the low flows. Field crews found the broken pipe just after noon on Tuesday and began notifying downstream residents, mobilizing resources to control the spill and design a repair. Bypass pumping was put in place and the spill ceased by 8:15 pm Tuesday.
Broken pipe can be seen at left side of creek bank
“We detected the problem quickly, unfortunately it took us a few hours to find the spill location along Mallard Creek and control the discharge from the broken pipe,” says Deputy Director Ron Hargrove. “We have to estimate that the spill probably started during the storm or soon thereafter.”
The wastewater is currently being fed by bypass pumps back to the wastewater treatment plant, so the spill is contained at this time. Crews from Storm Water Services have assisted Charlotte Water and contractors with removing debris from the creek. Representatives from NC Department of Environmental Quality have been on site to observe operations. Charlotte Water staff has been monitoring work and bypass pumps around the clock. Charlotte Water estimates work to repair the 36” wastewater main will continue for the next 48-72 hours.
Pumps and temporary lines will carry wastewater from the end of the broken pipe overland to a nearby wastewater pipe so it can flow to the wastewater treatment plant during the repair
Charlotte Water maintains more than 4,300 miles of wastewater collection pipes across Mecklenburg County. Residents can report odors, unusual looking creeks or overflowing manholes by calling 311 anytime of day.
The Sugar Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant (near Fairview and Park road intersection) experienced an electrical outage in the afternoon of Tuesday October 17, 2017, and for approximately 12 minutes discharged highly treated wastewater to Little Sugar Creek that had not completed the normal treatment process. It is estimated 39,800 gallons was discharged from the final disinfection process over the 12 minute period. This is approximately 0.3% of the total flow of 11.1 million gallons of wastewater treated on that day. All NPDES treatment permit requirements were met for the day.
This water was completely treated (steps 1 through 4 below) with the exception of the final polishing step of ultraviolet disinfection (step 5 below) during the 12 minute power outage. No impacts to the stream were observed and none are expected.
