By Amanda Raymond

amanda.raymond@salisburypost.com

A recent untreated wastewater spill had minimal to no negative environmental effects, Jim Behmer, director of Salisbury-Rowan Utilities, said.

On Dec. 30, Salisbury-Rowan Utilities had a discharge of untreated wastewater from its Southside pump station on Kluttz Road in Rockwell. According to a press release from the city of Salisbury, about 105,763 gallons of the untreated wastewater was spilled into an unnamed tributary to Dutch Second Creek in the Yadkin-Pee Dee River basin.

The discharge lasted about seven hours.

Salisbury-Rowan Utilities blames the spill on the large amount of rain that the county experienced last week that fell on the already saturated ground of the area, including nearly 2 inches falling in four hours.

Behmer said there was a team on site for the whole time of the spill who monitored pH and dissolved oxygen levels upstream and downstream.

Behmer also said the spill was heavily diluted.

“We didn’t see any adverse environmental effects based on our testing,” he said.

Behmer said places in Charlotte and Albemarle also had the same problem. Salisbury-Rowan Utilities has flow monitors throughout the system that monitor flow increases during rain events.

Salisbury-Rowan Utilities employees used pumper trucks to bring the overflow of wastewater to a location that was not over capacity.

“I commend our guys for doing everything they could in the adverse weather conditions,” Behmer said.

Contact reporter Amanda Raymond at 704-797-4222.