THOMASVILLE, N.C. – The Yadkin Riverkeeper® Inc. is calling on the City of Thomasville to pay for water quality testing in High Rock Lake to ensure the public it is safe to swim in High Rock Lake. Additionally, Yadkin Riverkeeper Dean Naujoks has requested that Thomasville officials commit to spending $10 million to improve an aging sewage collection system, at the site of a 15 million gallon raw sewage spill at North Hamby Creek, part of the Yadkin-Pee Dee River Basin. News reports earlier this week reporting the City of Thomasville initially failed to report more than 15 million gallons of raw sewage that spilled into North Hamby Creek and entered High Rock Lake have triggered overwhelming public alarm about the safety of the water in High Rock Lake.

The Coast Guard Auxiliary on High Rock Lake has received an unprecedented amount of calls asking about public health and safety of the water on High Rock Lake but the NC Division of Water Quality has no data available to ensure public health is protected. “It is the City of Thomasville’s sewage. Thomasville needs to provide immediate funding to pay for independent testing to determine if there is a public health threat. Secondly they need to put forward a plan with committed funding to improve their aging sewage lines” Naujoks said.

Naujoks contacted Thomasville City Manager Kelly Craver and Mayor Joe G. Bennett on Thursday urging city officials to conduct their own investigation and demonstrate proactive leadership by committing to the testing and providing the funding to fix Thomasville’s failing sewage collection system. The City of Thomasville abruptly amended a sewage report on Sept. 8 as a result of an EPA investigation prompted by a report they received from the Yadkin Riverkeeper. Naujoks received a tip from a Thomasville plant operator claiming city officials had intentionally underreported the spill totals on August 4th to the media. NC law requires sewage spills over 1000 gallons be reported to the media to alert the public about potential health risks. The EPA refuses to comment on the details of the investigation, but falsifying data can lead to criminal prosecution.

Hamby Creek empties into Abbott’s Creek and eventually High Rock Lake, one of the state’s largest recreational lakes and a drinking water supply for the town of Salisbury. Thomasville Public Utilities Director Morgan Huffman initially reported a sewage spill of only 385,000 gallons to NC Division of Water Quality on Aug. 4 but amended the report Tuesday September 8th when EPA Criminal Investigations Division made an unannounced visit to review plant data. It is still not clear why Utilities Director Morgan Huffman, who relied on plant data to initially report a 385,000 gallon spill, failed to notice and report a much larger spill occurred. The same plant data was used to determine 15.93 million gallons of raw sewage had poured into Hamby Creek weeks later when EPA visited the plant. Huffman also tried to conceal a pending EPA investigation once the city reported the information to the media. Town officials now claim it was simply a breakdown in communications and that no one at the plant realized a spill until August 4th, let alone the 15 million gallon spill reported September 8th.

However, plant operator logs from July 16th and again on July 25th clearly indicate operators reported flow coming into the plant had dropped significantly from an average of 2 million gallons a day (MGD) down to 1.5 MGD at a time when flow to the plant should have significantly increased as a result of heavy rains inundating the sewer lines. The plant’s flow meters and SCADA also showed a significant drop in flow entering the plant which could only mean a rupture in the cities ageing sewage lines had occurred. Raw sewage began spewing into Hamby Creek down into High Rock Lake on July 13th until it was finally reported on Aug. 4, lasting more than 20 days. Public Utilities Director Morgan Huffman claims there is little the town can do for remediation and has not provided a plan for upgrading its aging sewage lines.

Yadkin Riverkeeper Inc. received reports in July from people swimming in High Rock Lake reporting the odor of raw sewage, but no one realized millions of gallons of sewage entered High Rock Lake from Abbots Creek via Hamby Creek far upstream. Now property owners on High Rock Lake are contacting Yadkin Riverkeeper, saying sewage discharges to the lake have been going on for more than two years. Raw sewage poses a serious public health risk, containing disease pathogens, bacteria, viruses, toxins, and antibiotics that can cause serious illness, leave skin lesions and open festering sores. It poses a public health risk for recreational users in the lake as well and can potentially taint drinking water for the town of Salisbury. High Rock Lake is already listed as impaired for nutrients and sediment pollution on the states 303d list for impaired waters.

A long history of terrible compliance at the Thomasville Sewage Plant combined with the amount of sewage and lengthy duration of the spill as well as a very poor response to the spill demonstrate gross negligence, prompting calls from the Yadkin Riverkeeper for the N.C. Division of Water Quality to issue the maximum penalty allowable under the federal Clean Water Act for the spill. If enacted, that amount of $32,500 per day would total $650,000 over the entire 20 days.

“If the estimated amount is correct, this spill is one of the largest municipal sewage spills ever documented in NC, much larger then the Exxon Valdez oil spill of 1989” said Naujoks. “The public deserves a full explanation from Morgan Huffman about what happened and why it took so long to discover the spill. His failure to be forthcoming about this matter, and the fact that the city of Thomasville did not announce what happened until a month later, are a grave disservice to the public and poses a serious health risk. He should be held accountable for failing to protect public trust waters and compromising a public drinking water supply. Thomasville needs to conduct testing and upgrade their failing sewer lines to ensure this never happens again.”

According to news reports, Thomasville was fined $1,616 by NCDWQ after the initial spill report. The city is working on an amended report which could result in additional fines by the state agency. The spill will not require environmental clean-up, according to city officials as of this writing.

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