Untreated wastewater discharged in Calabash River due to power outage

CALABASH, NC (WWAY) — Brunswick County Public Utilities reports thousands of gallons of untreated wastewater was discharged into the Calabash River due a massive power outage last week.

County officials say the discharge came from a sanitary sewer manhole located at 1174 Wilson Avenue in Calabash.

The sanitary sewer overflow (SSO) began Thursday afternoon around 12:30 p.m. due to a power outage that affected more 50,000 customers in the lower portions of Brunswick County.

The overflow was corrected at approximately 1:30 p.m. on Friday.

It is believed approximately 29,000 gallons reached a tributary of and ultimately released into the Calabash River.

“It was determined that a faulty automatic transfer switch (ATS) did not allow the on-site generator to function properly during the power outage which then led to a failure once utility power was restored,” Brunswick County Public Utilities wrote in a news release.