Heavy Rains Cause Sewer Overflow at Toccoa Liftstation

Toccoa officials said heavy rains were to blame for a sanitary sewer spill at the Ward Creek Liftstation.

It started at about 1:35 a.m. on Sunday when city personnel said they located an overflow condition coming from a manhole located just outside the fenced area of the Ward Creek Liftstation.

City officials said the overflow stopped at about 3:30 a.m., but then re-started at 5:30 a.m. before ending for good at about 10:15 a.m.

According to city officials, personnel used the city’s vacuum truck to manually transport wastewater from the Ward Creek Liftstation to the Eastanollee Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant to try and reduce the overflow.

Still, the overflow amount was about 12,000 gallons.

The city said it entered Ward Creek, which is a tributary to the Tugaloo River and Lake Hartwell.

City officials said there are no known water intake points within 20 miles of the spill.

They added that the amount of rain received over the weekend caused the two pumps at the liftstation to be unable to keep up with the incoming flow, even though both pumps were running at maximum speed.

The city said it continues work to find and eliminate sources of rain flowing into the sanitary sewer system.

City officials said all appropriate notices have been posted and all required testing is starting as soon as possible.