Charlotte-Mecklenburg Storm Water Services estimates at least "a couple hundred gallons" of raw sewage spilled Friday into the pond at Park Road Park. The agency's Rusty Rozzelle says the spill was caused by a sewer line blockage.
"We really don't know what blocked the sewer line," he said, "It could have been any one of many things, but the sewer line was blocked, and sewage just spilled out of the manhole right there next to the pond."
Rozzelle says the spill was stopped soon after it was detected. It's unclear when the spill began or how long it had been been going on before the agency was notified.
Friday's spill is on the smaller end of recent sewage spills in the Charlotte area. In July, some 200,000 gallons of sewage spilled into the Kings Branch stream in south Charlotte, and in June, a swimming ban was enacted for parts of Lake Norman after around 400 gallons of sewage spilled in a cove.
The county is asking people and their pets to avoid coming into contact with the Park Road Park pond for at least the next week. Rozzelle says residents who live near a stream feeding out of the pond into Little Sugar Creek have been notified of the spill.