Officials: Contractor error leads to sewage spill at Brushy Creek wastewater plant
A contractor error is believed to have caused the unauthorized discharge of raw sewage from a manhole along Brushy Creek, according to a news release from the city of Round Rock.
The error occurred during expansion work at the East Brushy Creek Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant at 3939 E. Palm Valley Blvd.
City utility employees became aware of the discharge during a regular inspection on June 17. Prompted by sighting of dead fish at CR 122 and CR 123, city crews inspected the area and found a manhole upstream that showed signs of having previously overflowed. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality provided clean up efforts and estimate that approximately 250 fish were killed due to the discharge, according to the city.
The release said the contractor had been working on a line between the plant’s preliminary treatment unit and an aeration basin and the flow to that line had been shut off during the work. While the line was shut off, wastewater backed up into the collection system’s main interceptor along Brushy Creek causing the overflow from the manhole into the creek.
City staff believes the spill occurred in the evening hours on June 16. Staff is still reviewing records to determine the duration and the volume of the spill.
Signs have been placed along a portion of Brushy Creek downstream from the plant since March due to the previous increased flows to the plant, advising residents to stay out of the creek, according to the news release.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Officials: Contractor error leads to sewage spill at Brushy Creek wastewater plant
