Sewage leak near Old Town Bluffton contaminates May River. Here’s what we know
Update: On Nov. 2, the Beaufort-Jasper Water and Sewer Authority removed the swimming advisory signs from the May River.
A 105,000-gallon sewage leak near Old Town Bluffton has contaminated the May River, according to the Beaufort-Jasper Water and Sewer Authority.
The agency issued a swim and shellfish advisory this week after the leak on Oct. 26. These advisories mean you should not swim in or harvest shellfish until the river is deemed safe.
Signs informing visitors of the advisories were installed on Oct. 28.
The leak happened near Drayson Circle behind the Bluffton library. A sanitary sewer manhole overflowed with wastewater and traveled down a drainage ditch to the May River.
That overflow happened because of a nearby mainline blockage, according to a news release.
BJWSA crews have started cleanup and repair to mitigate the effects of the overflow, and crews collected bacteriological water samples from the May River, the news release says. The sample results are pending.
Advisory signs will remain in the area until normal sample results are obtained, the release says.
BJWSA notified the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC).
Don Murphy, who lives on Drayson Circle, said he and his neighbors started smelling sewage on Oct. 24. He investigated the following day and found the overflow.
He said he called BJWSA on Oct. 26, and staff started to address the issue the following day.
Murphy said he’s worried about all that time in between, when the water was being contaminated. His friends in Heyward Cove, where the stormwater drainage ditch empties into the May River, started making calls this week after they smelled sewage.
“I do a lot of fishing and have a lot of friends who do fishing, shrimping, crabbing. ... It affects a lot of people,” he said. “There’s a lot of seafood that’s eaten out of these creeks.”
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If you see or suspect any type of spill from the sewer collection system, please contact BJWSA at (843) 987-9200.
For more information, you can visit the agency’s website at www.bjwsa.org.
This story was originally published October 30, 2020 at 8:46 AM.
