Nearly three million gallons of sewage spilled in Rocky Mount in two weeks. In August alone, the city experienced 14 sewer spills within a five-day span – just days after another massive spill.
The first spill happened on July 25 and lasted until July 28. More than 1.7 million gallons of sewage spilled into the Tar River from a manhole on River Side Drive.
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Days later, another sanitary sewer overflow (SSO) happened at the same exact spot.
Data from the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (NCDEQ) shows that there have been 24 sewer spills in this same spot since 2018, totaling 4 million gallons of sewage. That number has increased since the most recent spill.
14 sewer spills in 5 days
From Aug. 8 to Aug. 12, Rocky Mount had 14 sanitary sewer overflows. More than 1.2 million gallons – 1,214,375 gallons in total – of raw sewage spilled into the Tar River and connecting bodies of water. The chart below breaks down each of the 14 sewer spills.
"The significant rainfall associated with Storm Debby (approximately 5.31 inches) resulted in the sanitary sewer system being overloaded," the city said.
The city said it has cleaned up the spills.
"The immediate areas surrounding these incidents were washed with system water, vacuumed, and appropriately discharged into the sewer system," the city said. "Any saturated soil was removed, lime was applied to neutralize any remaining contaminants, and a mix of sand and soil was reapplied before being seeded and capped with wheat straw to prevent erosion and promote regrowth."
WRAL News has reached out to the NCDEQ to ask if the City of Rocky Mount will face any penalties in connection with these sewer spills.
Advocacy group working to raise awareness about water quality in Rocky Mount
The Sound Rivers is a non-profit whose mission is to monitor and protect the Neuse and Tar-Pamlico River watersheds.
Katey Zimmerman has been monitoring the water quality in Rocky Mount for the past year.
"I think it is essential for people to be aware of the water quality where they live," she said.
Zimmerman said she'd found high levels of bacteria in the river before, but not enough to trigger a DEQ water advisory.
Still, she thinks the public should know, as increased bacteria from sewage spills can cause sickness.
"We're advocating for more public signage and awareness of what is going on," she said.
The City of Rocky Mount's Director of Water Resources, Brenton Bent, said the city is working with an engineer to find a way to fix the infrastructure to handle more volume.
"I do understand the concerns," he said. "We definitely share the concerns. We want to be upfront."
The City of Rocky Mount did not send out a public notice about the most recent string of SSOs until Aug. 20 – 12 days after the first spill occurred.
Frequent spills could be reflective of greater problems
Rocky Mount said in its public notice that sanitary sewer overflows are common in North Carolina – but they aren't supposed to be.
Dr. Lee Ferguson said sanitary sewer systems weren't built with any sort of overflow valve.
"You're not supposed to have overflows," said Ferguson, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at Duke University. "You overwhelm the flow and you see wastewater bubbling up through manholes, or sometimes it'll back up into people's houses, that kind of stuff."
Sanitary sewer overflows are not supposed to happen frequently. When they are happening frequently, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said it's an indication that something may be wrong with the sewer system.
Ferguson said aging infrastructure, growing population and extreme storm events are contributing causes of SSOs in North Carolina.
Read more about how SSOs are impacting North Carolina on pugongyingbo.com.
Rocky Mount says its working to reduce spills
The City of Rocky Mount said it's continually working to improve the sewer collection system to prevent these overflows.
Currently, the city maintains over 435 miles of sewer lines.
The city said some of the maintenance efforts include relining old sewer mains with new, durable linings and repairing any cracks, breaks or damage caused by tree roots.
The city said $750,000 is allocated annually to resurface older manholes and repair leaks.
In 2020, the city relined 1.7 miles of an extensive sewer outfall line and replaced two old screw pumps, which allows movement of an additional 20 million gallons of wastewater per day.
Despite the city's efforts, spills continue to be a problem – not just in Rocky Mount but across the state.
Tropical Storm Debby contributed to 14 sewer spills within five days, according to the city. And hurricane season is far from over.
The city has received $400,000 in grant funding to comprehensively study the sewer system. This study will be completed by December 2024 and will help identify vulnerable areas in the system.