City Reports Sanitary Sewer Spill

Heavy rain received over the last couple of days is to blame for a sanitary sewer spill in Toccoa’s city system.

City officials say that the spill occurred Monday just outside of the fenced area of the Ward Creek Liftstation.

According to the city’s report, personnel located an overflow condition just before noon Monday.

The city says staff immediately began utilizing the city’s vacuum truck to manually transport wastewater from the Liftstation to the Eastanollee Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant on Rose Lane in an effort to minimize the overflow.

However, about 5,000 gallons still overflowed and went into Ward Creek before the overflow stopped at about 3 p.m.

City officials say that because of the heavy rain that had fallen over the previous 24 hours or so in the area, the two pumps in the station were unable to keep up with the incoming flow, even though both pumps were running at maximum speed.

The city says it is working to find and eliminate sources of rain flowing into the sanitary sewer system in an effort to limit this problem.

According to the city, all appropriate notices have been posted regarding this spill and all required testing will start as soon as possible.

City officials do note that there are no known water intake points within 20 miles of the spill and where it entered Ward Creek, which is a tributary to the Tugalo River and Lake Hartwell.

Downtown Toccoa received more than three inches of rain since Saturday.

No other major problems were reported, though Stephens County Sheriff Randy Shirley says there was minor flooding in parts of the county.