Media Contact
Name: Bart Allen
Title: Water Utilities Manager
Phone: 936-564-5046
Email address: allenb@ci.nacogdoches.tx.us
Due unprecedented rainfall over the weekend, the City of Nacogdoches Wastewater Treatment Plant has been overwhelmed and the capacity of the system is at its maximum. This has resulted in an overflow of rainwater and sanitary sewage at a manhole near the plant into Lanana Creek in excess of 100,000 gallons.
Texas Commission Environmental Quality (TCEQ) has been notified and all required notifications have been issued to media and other City of Nacogdoches officials. The environmental threat is minimal as the overflow was 95% rainwater.
The facility received maximum inflows of combined wastewater and storm water. To prevent flooding that would severely damage equipment and productivity, the plant was be placed in emergency bypass mode.
“Heavy rains in the area caused flooding conditions on all waterways throughout our system,” Bart Allen, Water Utilities Manager, said. “We received 3 inches of water in less than an hour which forced us to put the plant in ’emergnecy bypass mode.'”
Upwards of 8 inches of rain resulted in 4 times the normal amount of water flowing through the plant. The plant is designed to handle 12.88 gallons of water per day, but at the time the overflow occurred it was treating nearly 21 million gallons day.
As of Monday morning the plant is operating at normal capacity. Duration of the overflow was 8.5 hours.
