20,000 gallons of sewage spill into Northeast Raleigh in city’s 2nd spill this week
About 20,000 gallons of sewage spilled in Northeast Raleigh overnight when a sewer pump station failed, the city announced Wednesday.
The spill occurred around 10:30 p.m. Tuesday on Great Laurel Drive — about a mile away from a Sunday sewage spill of 31,000 gallons on Oak Marsh Drive. The sewage reached a storm drainage channel in the Neuse Basin, according to a city news release.
The two spills are not related, said Ed Buchan, spokesperson for Raleigh water.
The Sunday spill was caused by a quarter-size hole in a pressurized pipe, he said.
The Tuesday spill occurred after a pipe got blocked and sewage began spilling back into a tank or “wet well.”
“The good news is that we already had a portable diesel pump onsite, plumbed and ready in case such an event were to occur, so when the mechanic arrived he was able to turn on the pump and minimize the spill volume,” Buchan said.
“Basically, we were already working on this pump station, and this occurred at a really inopportune time,” he said.
Report sewage spills to Raleigh by calling 919-996-3245.
