MULTIMEDIA

The city of Thomasville, which is near High Point, says it spilled 16 million gallons of raw sewage upstream of High Rock Lake. That's many times more than the 385,000 gallons it initially reported.

Now the EPA wants to know if the city lied about the severity of the spill. WFAE's Julie Rose reports:

Thomasville officials say they first discovered the leak on August 3 and figured it had been going for just one day, so they reported a spill of 385,000 gallons.

But a worker at the city's sewer treatment plant disagreed and tipped off the EPA. The agency quickly investigated and concluded the raw sewage had been spilling into the creek for three weeks. The EPA is now pursuing a criminal investigation and Thomasville officials are trying to figure out what went wrong.

Public Utilities Director Morgan Huffman still doubts the spill went on as long as the EPA estimates.

"I would hope someone would have noticed it if it did start as early as we put in our report as a worst-case scenario," says Huffman.

In fact, WFAE has learned that a top official at the city's sewer treatment plant did receive a call warning of the sewer leak before August 3rd, but failed to refer it to the department for investigation. Huffman confirms that and says the person resigned this week.

Yadkin Riverkeeper Dean Naujoks suspects a cover-up by the city.

"This went on for 20 days," says Naujoks. "I still suspect it may have been criminal intent to under report that spill and no one would have caught it if it wasn't for that operator stepping up and providing that information."

The sewer spill is the largest in North Carolina record, according to Division of Water Quality Regional Supervisor Steve Tedder. The City of Thomasville may face a steep fine, and Mayor Joe Bennett says the city is also bracing for possible lawsuits.

"Sixteen million gallons - that's quite a bit and we're not treating it lightly in any way, shape or form," says Mayor Bennett. "And we know and we emphasize that we will report and give the information back to the citizens."

Mayor Bennett says that includes potential health risks from the spill. Exposure to raw sewage can cause skin lesions and serious illness.

Thomasville city and state officials say they tested the lake for fecal contamination as recently as last Saturday and found no problem with water quality.

Since Thomasville wastewater dept. neglected to take immediate action of initial spill and has put many people in possible health risks, I think that the State of NC should permanently revoke the Grade 4 license of the Operator in Charge at the Thomasville plant. An Operator in Charge that has the training of a Grade 4 should have responded immediately to correct problem. Every city has old and outdated systems; however, this lack of response seems to be a cover up of the facts.

This speaks to the lax attitude a lot of municipalities and their water departments have about discharges into our already stressed waterways. Let it slide for a couple of weeks and then cover it up. I'm glad they got busted and hope the EPA dings them good to set an example for others

Once again, prevention is worth a pound of cure. Isn't one of the lessons here for all of us, including Gov. Perdue, the necessity to fund infrastructure rather than gamble on the health of all residents? Who wants to get sick from drinking water? Who wants to eat the fish that drank the water from High Rock Lake? Who wants to watch an egret die from poisoning? Who has misused their power? Who has compromised their integrity? Who wants everyone to be healthy? Who is just plain tired of hearing excuses from those who profit from poisoning our water and air?

Please count the days between the end of the mega-spill on August 4, 2009 and the taking of water samples in High Rock Lake on Saturday, September 19. That is 45 days after the spill ended. It is also in a moving river and lake, so what can it really prove about the pollution in the Lake as the stream of pollution moved by for 20 days? By the time the water samples were taken much of the polluted water had moved downstream and was most likely in the Atlantic Ocean. It is also time to remind ourselves that even the aceans cannot endure unending pollution without negative effect. Thomasville got caught, but other municipalities in the Piedmont have had similar, but unpublicized spills and bypasses of treatment plants. There is a lot of game-playing with the rules about reporting sewer spills--an agent of the city most see the spill in progress and measure it; at least 1,000 gallons must be seen to be entering a stream and so on. If the city is told that a manhole is overflowing during a flood surrounding the manhole, but sends no observers until after the flood passes, the overflow will have ceased as the flood receded and no spill is ever seen or reported. There can be a trail of paper pulp, plasics, condoms and other material from the sewer pipe on the ground after the spill; there can even be the same stuff up high in trees along the creek bank but no spill will be reported, no fines assessed and the public will not be notified. Fines are levied depending on the size of the reported spill. Therefore cities attempt to downplay the spill if possible and the North Carolina Division of Water Quality, being under-manned, does not often investigate to see if the report is truthful. In the present situation, the public often learns of the spill days after their possible exposure to contamination. What is needed is a new law which puts immediate public notification and warning foremost. Cities should warn the public, stop the spill and then worry about notifying DWQ.

I don't understand how an employee noticed this spill and no one else did. I understand that it is cheaper to let raw sewage flow unchecked instead of treating it, but you people make me sick! There needs to be some accountability on the city's part. Mayor Bennett is wrong not to let people speak for longer than two minutes...he is a scared little man afraid of losing his job and does'nt realize that the lake belongs to everyone! I am sure that the city makes money on the lake by property taxes and selling water. The citizens have rights too. SHAME ON ALL INVOLVED!!!!!!