News

Sound Rivers staff was in Hillsborough this week, collecting water samples for bacteria testing after the remnants of Tropical Storm Chantal brought historic flooding to the Eno River.

In a matter of hours, 7.5 – 10.5 inches of rain fell in Hillsborough and surrounding areas on July 8, leading to major flooding on the Eno, more than 80 water rescues, property damage and multiple sewer spills as two pump stations, a wastewater treatment plant and many manholes were inundated by floodwater.

“The extremely high water levels brought a ton of pollution concerns, chief among them was the city’s sewer system,” Neuse Riverkeeper Samantha Krop said. “Just at one pump station, they’ve estimated they discharged 7 million gallons of wastewater into the Eno River. A lot of sewage got into the Eno — a lot.”

The Eno River is the source of drinking water for Hillsborough. The Eno also flows into Falls Lake, a major drinking water source for Raleigh, which then flows into the Neuse River.

“The Eno is a critical river, so that much sewage getting into it is not good,” Samantha said.

On Wednesday, water quality intern Samantha Lewis joined the Sound Rivers Riverkeeper for a sampling foray.

“We mapped out a bunch of sampling locations based on where the sewer spills occurred, and collected samples upstream and downstream of each of the known, reported spills, as well as on two tributaries of the Eno — Cates Creek and Stroud Creek — where spills occurred,” Samantha Krop said.

She said it was clear the area had experienced major flooding, more so than when the river flooded during Hurricane Fran in 1996, which set the previous flooding record.

“The Eno is a rockier, fast-moving river. Waters were still very high and very muddy, and there was tons of storm damage, property damage, debris piles in the tree tops,” Samantha said.

The goal of Wednesday’s outing was to get a sense of whether the pollution issues have been resolved or are ongoing.

“We’re committed to going back there to test, so we can let people know when waters are back to normal levels,” Samantha said.

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Read more about the Eno River flooding and the sewer spills brought on by Chantal here.