Friday, August 12, 2016

SEWER OVERFLOW on Little Hurricane Creek

Official release from Tuscaloosa medial dep. (Writers note... This is the second overflow at this exact same site in a week.) I'd like to thank the city of Tuscaloosa for adding us to the notification system so we can advise our membership of potential health issues stemming from sewer overflows.

"A lift station pump failure near Little Hurricane Creek was detected and corrected.
Out of an abundance of caution, the City of Tuscaloosa advises that people should not enter nor use the water in Little Hurricane Creek east of the intersection of State Highway 11 and Daimler Benz Boulevard to Little Hurricane Creek at Highway 11 until further notice. This is the same area already under notice.
There is no immediate danger. The water is being testing, and we are monitoring conditions.
Media contact: Deidre Stalnaker, dstalnaker@tuscaloosa.com, 205-534-0811 (cell)
Stay up to date on all City of Tuscaloosa news via social media:
Twitter | @TuscaloosaCity<https://twitter.com/tuscaloosacity>
Facebook | City of Tuscaloosa ­ Government<https://www.facebook.com/TuscaloosaCity>
Instagram | @TuscaloosaCity<http://instagram.com/tuscaloosacity>

At about 2. PM this afternoon, Aug. 08, 2016 the Tuscaloosa Sewer Lift station located at the Mercedes plant looked like it was still out of commission in spite of the official statement by the city that "A lift station pump failure near Little Hurricane Creek was detected and corrected." There were still several vacuum trucks on site used to suction raw sewage from the wet well when pumps are out.


There was heavy rain with storm-water runoff leaving the pump station and flowing directly into Little Hurricane Creek. Just outside the fence I saw a public health hazard sign in the path of the storm water seen flowing to the creek.






Just down grade from the station there was another set of signs set right on the creek bank. The creek had a lot more flow in it than the last overflow here so I feel it may have a better chance of hitting Hurricane Creek by Sat. or Sun. The city hasn't given any figures on the amount and duration of the overflow but we hope to hear from them soon on that.




There was a disturbed area right on the creek bank. I'm not sure what this was caused by but it created a soft area where I would expect to see accumulation of bacteria. I neither saw or smelled any form of disinfectant, just 2 signs facing away from the road.



This site is approximately 22 miles North, by water from the PARA Hurricane Creek Park and 26 miles from the Watson's Bend bridge on Holt Peterson Rd. Without the actual numbers of gallons spilled and the content I can not say the creek is safe or not at this point. There was a heavy downpour at the time I was there. That will help push any contamination farther south faster than normal. By Sat. or Sunday we should be seeing any problems if they occur. Friends of Hurricane Creek will be making arrangements to have sampling done ASAP and determine if there is actually any threat to health this far down stream.
Stay safe this weekend folks. Wait until the all clear before entering the water.
We will keep you posted as we find out more. For the time being, out of an abundance of caution, I would not advise swimming in the creek this weekend just for safety sake.






1 comment:

  1. Most of the time I don’t make comments on websites, but I'd like to say that this article really forced me to do so. Really nice post!
    http://vacnjet.com/

    ReplyDelete