3 days and 75,000 gallons: Here’s what happened after a Hardeeville wastewater overflow
A sanitary sewage overflow lasted for three days and caused 75,000 gallons of wastewater to leak into a wooded area directly behind a pumping station in Hardeeville.
The overflow at a Beaufort-Jasper Water & Sewer Authority pumping station was caused by a pump failure, according to a BJWSA press release. The pump failure started around 6 p.m. June 9 near the intersection of U.S. 278 and Whyte Hardee Boulevard and was contained around 2:30 p.m. June 12.
“If we had been near a body of water, it could have had other ramifications,” BJWSA Director of Public Affairs Pamela Flasch said.
Cleanup began immediately, according to Flasch, and a crew was able to recover an vacuum truck of waste before rainfall made further cleanup impossible. From there, the wastewater was transported to a plant to undergo a cleaning process to sort out the dirt and other contaminants. Once treated, the wastewater can be used for irrigation, according to the BJWSA website.
BJWSA posted signs to alert residents, according to the press release, and the utility also contacted the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control to mitigate any effects caused by the pump failure.
The properties on both sides of the pumping station house several mobile homes, but residents shouldn’t be affected by the overflow because “heavy rainfall diluted anything that was left,” Flasch said.
Anyone who sees or suspects any type of spill from the sewer collection system, may call BJWSA at 843-987-9200.
