Cause of sewer leak remains unknown

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March 15, 2010

By Matthew Jackson Staff Reporter The Huntsville Item Mon Mar 15, 2010, 11:33 PM CDT

HUNTSVILLE — The City of Huntsville Public Utilities Department is now estimating that approximately 1.2 million gallons of wastewater spilled into McGary Creek last week after a force main carrying the waste to the Robinson Creek Waste Water Treatment Plant failed.

According to a notice sent to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality by Public Utilities Director Carol Reed, the leak could have began as early as March 4, and was not discovered until the morning of March 8, when a worker at the treatment plant noticed a significant drop in water flow in the main.

City utility crews were able to track the leak to the McGary creek area approximately 1,000 yards south of the creek’s intersection with Farm-to-Market Road 1791.

By March 9 at 1 a.m., the leak was contained, and workers began the process of obtaining pipe for repairs.

The repair was completed that evening at 6:30 p.m.

Reed calculated the estimated wastewater lost based on the estimated time the leak continued, the amount of time the McGary Creek lift station runs each day, and the rate of flow of 2000 gallons per minute normally attributed to the main.

Reed said the 1.2 million gallons over five days accounts for approximately 6 percent of daily waste water use by the city.

The wastewater lost flowed down McGary Creek and into the San Jacinto River Basin, but Reed said no private or public supplies of drinking water were affected.

According to Reed, the cause of the leak in the 14 inch main is still being investigated.

“The leak was due to a split in the pipe,” Reed said. “As to why the pipe split, that has not been determined yet.”

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Cause of sewer leak remains unknown

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