Failed pump station spills sewage in Falls Lake watershed

A damaged wastewater pump station spewed an estimated 50,000 gallons of raw sewage into an unnamed tributary of Upper Barton Creek, killing dozens of fish in the stream that flows into Falls Lake.

A stench still hangs in the air from the sewage left in the formerly clear Wake County creek that is now choked with sewage.

Steve Elliston first noticed the stench from his driveway off Rocky Point Road more than 100 yards away.

“It was like Old Faithful over there,” said Elliston as he describes the geyser of backed-up sewage that killed surrounding vegetation. Where Elliston’s children played and fished, dead fish line the edges of the stream as if they died trying to escape the sewage.

The spill was the result of a series of apparent flaws with a small wastewater system that serves the neighborhood, according to Jamie Kritzer, a spokesman for the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

The main pump on the plant failed sometime before Wednesday afternoon. Then a back-up pump failed. A warning system designed to alert the plant’s owner, AQUA N.C., to malfunctions also didn’t work, Kritzer said.

AQUA N.C. has since replaced one pump.

DENR workers found at least 50 dead fish in the creek. Efforts to remove the sewage by washing it down stream and pumping it out have begun. The spill has not reached Falls Lake, the largest source of drinking water in Wake County.