City of Heath Sanitary Sewer Line Overflow

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January 26, 2012

Poses No Threat to Dallas Water Supply

Anonymous Herald-Banner Staff The Zope Gazette Thu Jan 26, 2012, 05:09 PM CST

HEATH —

Heavy rains forced two sanitary sewer overflows in Heath discharging into Lake Ray Hubbard on Jan. 25.

The overflows were caused by rainwater entering sanitary sewer pipes through cracks in the city’s lines or through cracks in private plumbing lines. The sewer mains are not designed to carry rainwater that overloads the pipe’s capacity to carry wastewater to the treatment plant.

Heath City Engineer and Director of Public Works, Randel Dobbs, said that the spill poses no threat to residents’ drinking water, due to the fact that any sewage entering the lake was heavily diluted by large volumes of rainwater. There was no reasonable way to contain the spills since they occurred so closely to the lake’s edge. Heath’s crews did utilize a tanker truck to divert as much excess flow as possible away from the spill sites. Heath’s crews also cleaned and disinfected the spill areas to minimize any local health and safety concerns. Heath’s sanitary sewer system is approved and in compliance with government and industry requirements.

However, the public should avoid contact with waste material, soil or water in the area potentially affected by the spill. If the public comes into contact with waste material, soil or water potentially affected by the spill, they should bathe and wash clothes thoroughly as soon as possible.

“This overflow does not pose any danger to Dallas’ drinking water supply,” he said. “In addition, the spills were highly diluted and equated to about 251,000 gallons. According to the Texas Water Development Board, Lake Ray Hubbard contained about 120 billion gallons of water when the spills occurred.”The City of Heath has notified the City of Dallas and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality of the overflow.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality requires wastewater system operators to notify the news media and public officials when large discharges occur from the sanitary sewer collection system.The two overflows discharged into Lake Ray Hubbard. These were at 132 Shepherds Glen Road with a discharge of approximately 132,000 gallons and 2272 Lafayette Landing with a discharge of approximately 119,000 gallons. The overflows began at approximately 6 a.m. and ended at approximately 10 p.m. The City of Heath plans to address these two overflow problems with a wastewater study and sanitary sewer pipeline replacement projects.

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