Will SC residents be impacted by raw sewage spill on Lake Wylie by NC? What to know.
The thousands of gallons of raw sewage that spilled into Paw Creek Cove on Lake Wylie over the weekend will not impact those living on the South Carolina side of the lake, North Carolina officials said.
A “no swimming” advisory was issued for the cove after roughly 847,000 gallons of untreated sewage spilled into the lake on Friday at Paw Creek Lift Station off Old Dowd Road in Charlotte, officials said.
As long as South Carolina residents avoid swimming near Paw Creek Cove, there is no reason for those in York County to worry, Rusty Rozzelle, program manager for Mecklenburg County water quality, said Tuesday.
“They’ll not see any impact that far downstream,” Rozelle said.
The spill happened in the headwaters of the cove, which is the further point from where the water body merges with another, Rozzelle said.
“It’s at least five miles downstream of the cove before it makes it to the South Carolina line,” Rozzelle said. “It’s just not going to make it that far. There’s way too much dilution.”
The advisory, issued Sunday, will likely be lifted at the end of the week, Rozzelle said.
South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control spokesperson Derrek Asberry said the agency was notified of the overflow incident on Saturday.
“Charlotte Water additionally notified downstream water systems so they could take necessary precautions to ensure drinking water standards are met,” Asberry said in a statement.
Given that the overflow is unlikely to extend to South Carolina, the drinking water in the York County area will not be affected, Rozelle said.
“If anything got down that far, they would see it in their samples,” Rozelle said. “But there’s no way it’ll make it that far.”
The spill occurred because of a pipe alignment problem that has since been repaired, Charlotte Water officials said.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg water-quality officials will monitor the water near the cove throughout the week and the advisory will be lifted once conditions are “deemed safe for human contact,” the release said.
