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The Town of Smithfield is looking for the source and the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality is weighing in on a suspected sewage spill discovered in Smithfield by Sound Rivers staff.

Sound Rivers Water Quality Specialist Taylor was at the site again this week, taking more water samples to test for bacteria.

“Our last round of sampling indicated that E. coli levels in the outfall discharge were off the charts, and that water is flowing directly into the Neuse,” Taylor said. “Our sampling this week included another check on the outfall for bacteria, and also a DNA sample to confirm whether or not that discharge is mostly human waste. The DNA results will take a few weeks to come in, but unsurprisingly, the E. coli levels at the outfall were extremely high once again, and the water that was actively flowing into the Neuse had a pretty strong smell of sewage to it.”

The outfall is located just off the Neuse River Greenway, downstream of Sound Rivers’ Swim Guide sampling site. In early September, Neuse Riverkeeper Samantha Krop and Sound Rivers Program Director Clay Barber were scouting for potential trash-trap installation locations when they came across the stormwater outfall — and the overwhelming smell of sewage.

“Since our last round of sampling in Smithfield, we’ve shared our findings with the city to try and figure out what might be causing these extremely high levels of E. coli in their stormwater outfall. The city has apparently had odor complaints for a long time now at this outfall, and has done a few checks on their systems and said they did not notice anything of concern,” Taylor said.

She said city staff currently attributes the odor to a nearby lumber mill that has a permit to discharge wastewater into another outfall in the city. According to Taylor, however, there is nothing in the lumber mill’s discharge that would cause bacteria levels to be so high.

“We are recommending that the city do more extensive testing of their sewer lines, mainly dye testing or CCTV monitoring, as we had a very similar issue in Kinston earlier this year that was not solved until these methods were used,” Taylor said.

According to Neuse Riverkeeper Samantha Krop, NCDEQ has reached out to the city and is also encouraging more stringent efforts be made to identify a possible source.

“DEQ is expressing a desire for more surety about bacteria levels, but have not done their own sampling,” Samantha said. “So, the case is open.”

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