Published: October 29, 2009 05:43 pm      

Incident caused untreated wastewater to flow into Adams Bayou

More than 250,000 gallons of untreated wastewater from the Pinehurst sewer treatment plant recently discharged into Adams Bayou.

According to Robert Ewart, Pinehurst city administrator, the wastewater was highly diluted with only a third of it being wastewater and the remainder being rainwater.

The overflow occurred overnight at the sewer treatment plant when the discharge side of one of the treatment compartments became plugged. Officials believe a bucket had blown into the compartment during a passing rainstorm and became lodged in the discharge.

Since then, the problem has been corrected and the staff has taken steps to see that no loose material is left in locations which may cause a repeat of the incident, Ewart said.

By law, the city immediately notified the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality when the overflow exceeds 100,000 gallons.

During a Pinehurst city council meeting on June 10, officials were updated on the Sanitary Sewer Overflow Initiative Program because of previous incidents .

The city is entering the second year of a sanitary sewer overflow initiative between themselves and the TCEQ.

The step was brought about when TCEQ officials informed the city that the commission had conducted an inspection of the wastewater plant in June 2007 and discovered the city did notify the commission of a problem it was having with its system as required.

The city of Pinehurst has a permit to discharge 500,000 gallons of waste per day. However, if the sewer system gets to 75 percent of the permitted flow (375,000 gallons) or if it exceeds that amount for three consecutive months, TCEQ has to be notified.

The statewide initiative Pinehurst enacted alleviated some of the fines associated with the violations. However, Pinehurst officials would have to stick to the approved plans. The council had six months to come up with a plan and up to 10 years to follow it through.

Pinehurst was cited for the same problem in 2003 and the city was issued a notice of violation. Because of the repeated violation, Pinehurst is now in the enforcement stage.

Ewart said sewer issues are a continuous process to be addressed. The city could see fines on the latest infraction.



Debby Schamber is a reporter for the Orange Leader. She can be reached at 409-883-3571 ext. 2609 or at dschamber@orangeleader.com.