Force main malfunction causes sanitary sewer overflow

Force main malfunction causes sanitary sewer overflow

A temporary system malfunction impacting the Henry County Water Authority's (HCWA) Big Cotton Indian Creek lift station (Monday, Nov. 18) led to a sanitary sewer overflow (SSO) of approximately 700,000 gallons of untreated wastewater into Big Cotton Indian Creek.

Authority crews responded immediately and worked through the night to repair the malfunction, which allowed the Big Cotton Indian Creek lift station to come back online. The Authority then cleaned the location of the SSO, placed lime on site, and posted signs to inform the public of the incident.

HCWA lab personnel have started the process of collecting samples upstream and downstream of the SSO location, for water quality testing until stream conditions return to normal. Authority officials do not anticipate any threat to public health because of this incident.

Authority officials also note that assistance from neighboring utilities and contractors, who collectively provided nine vacuum trucks, helped to divert a large portion of wastewater accumulating on site to another portion of the HCWA sewer conveyance and collection system. Nearly 40% of the overflow was prevented from entering Big Cotton Indian Creek as a result.

This incident began when two valves inside the force main leaving the Big Cotton Indian Creek lift station were damaged during testing of the influent pump station at the Walnut Creek Water Reclamation Facility, which is undergoing a 6 million gallon per day (MGD) expansion.

Wastewater leaving the Big Cotton Indian Creek lift station primarily flows through a force main to the Walnut Creek Plant for treatment, while a second bypass valve allows for wastewater to reach the Plant through another gravity line. Both valves allowing for these two paths of wastewater conveyance from the Big Cotton Indian Creek lift station malfunctioned and remained closed, causing the eventual SSO after the lift station was turned off. The SSO began at 4:52 p.m. on Monday Nov. 18 and concluded at 4:02 a.m. on Tuesday Nov. 19.

For more information on this SSO at Big Cotton Indian Creek, please contact Tara Brown, HCWA Director of Strategic Planning, at 678-583-4502 or [email protected], or Pat Hembree, HCWA Division Manager, at 678-583-3901 or [email protected].

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Media Contact: Chris Wood, Ph.D.

P: 770-757-1681

E: [email protected] or [email protected]