News

Pamlico-Tar Riverkeeper Katey Zimmerman was back in Rocky Mount this week checking water quality on the Tar River after several sewage spills earlier in the week.

According to North Carolina Division of Water Resources’ Sanitary Sewer Overflow map, three separate spills into the Tar River occurred the morning of June 16: 15,000 gallons at 5:54 a.m.; 21,000 gallons at 8 a.m.; and 5,000 gallons at 8:40 a.m.

“There were sewer spills after the rain at the River Side Drive location, which is the typical culprit,” Katey said.

River Side Drive has seen many sewer spills over the last several years: after a heavy rain, sewage overflows a manhole on the street, then flows directly into storm drains located within feet of the manhole, and the storm drains flow directly in the Tar River about 50 yards away.

Samples Katey took on Wednesday, both upstream and downstream of the storm drains’ outfall, had very high levels of bacteria.

“That they both tested so high means there’s lots of bacteria in the water,” Katey said.

While there, Katey observed City of Rocky Mount employees using a bypass pump at a pump station located just upstream from the outfall. Further investigation determined that the city is installing a flow meter that can be read remotely and removing material from the pump’s wet well to facilitate flow.

“So that should improve flow capacity at the pump station, which is good,” Katey said.

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