Johnston County Public Utility officials have reported a second sewage spill in as many days at the same location.
On Friday, officials said 640,000 gallons of untreated wastewater was discharged into Mill Creek in the vicinity of 1457 W. Noble Street in Selma. The spill happened between 6:10am and 1:30pm last Friday. The sewage entered Mill Creek. The spill was blamed on rainwater and stormwater infiltration into the county wastewater collection system due to Hurricane Dorian.
On Saturday, the county said a second spill happened in the same location. About 3,600 gallons of wastewater escaped from the vicinity of 1457 W. Noble Street into Mill Creek. The spill happened between 10:45am and 1:45pm. The spill was caused by a “pipe fitting failure.”
Reacting to the repeated sewage spills on W. Noble Street, Johnston County Manager Rick Hester said, “You may recall there was a tremendous amount of rain – I’ve been told 6 inches – in a short period of time during the storm. We all have our challenges with those type of rain events.”
Its the same location 8.76 million gallons of sewage escaped from the collection system between October 11-16, 2016 during Hurricane Matthews. The spill was blamed on extreme weather conditions and flooding. In October 2017, an 11,000 gallon sewage spill was once again reported on W. Noble Street. Utility officials blamed that incident on a broken pipe.
In March 2003, an 8,000 gallon spill occurred at the same location due to excessive rainfall.
Johnston County officials also reported a 46,750 gallons sewage spill into Reedy Branch in the vicinity of 3146 Swift Creek Road, Smithfield on September 6, 2019. The spill was caused by a failure of pipe material.
The NC Division of Water Resources has been notified about the multiple spills.
