SHALLOTTE – Brunswick County officials announced Friday that more than 11,000 gallons of treated chlorinated wastewater was unintentionally released in a construction mishap Thursday, with about 1,000 gallons reaching a nearby stream.
Brunswick County Public Utilities issued a notice that the bypass of treated chlorinated wastewater occurred at the Shallotte Wastewater Treatment Plant after a construction-related incident during the installation of a new force main.
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The bypass was reported to Brunswick County staff at 3 p.m. Thursday and the problem was fixed within the hour.
“It is believed approximately 11,213 gallons of treated chlorinated wastewater were released. Approximately 1,000 gallons reached Williams Branch,” according to the county notice, which is required by state law, and noted that remediation of the affected site was ongoing.
Williams Branch is in the Lumber River basin and is classified as C and Sw, according to the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality.
Class C waters are “protected for uses such as aquatic life propagation, survival and maintenance of biological integrity (including fishing and fish), wildlife, secondary contact recreation, and agriculture. Secondary contact recreation means wading, boating, other uses not involving human body contact with water, and activities involving human body contact with water where such activities take place on an infrequent, unorganized, or incidental basis,” per NCDEQ.
Class Sw waters are swampwaters.
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