Madison Park

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Little Sugar Creek Advisory lifted

• Earlier this week the Sugar Creek wastewater plant fully resumed normal operations following the fuel dumping incident detected on Feb. 8.
• ­The plant has successfully treated ethanol and toluene levels that were found to have entered the plant for a relatively brief period of time. 
• ­Water quality samples taken from the plant’s exit point into Little Sugar creek – as well as upstream and downstream of the plant - have indicated no problems. 
• ­Officials from CMUD, Mecklenburg County Health Department and Mecklenburg County Land Use & Environmental Services Agency confirm no public health concerns or impact to water quality in Little Sugar Creek as a result of this incident; thus the precautionary advisory to avoid human and animal contact is lifted.

• As a precaution, the ‘no contact advisory’ will remain in effect from the Mallard Creek  wastewater plant site near the Mecklenburg/Cabarrus border (along Mallard Creek downstream into Cabarrus, Union & Anson counties) until the wastewater plant is fully recovered and all hazardous materials have been removed from the plant site.
• Plant staff continues effectively treating the community’s wastewater amid the cleanup & disposal of hazardous materials that contain levels of PCBs and Trichlorobenzene (TCB).
• Last weekend an estimated 1,575 gallons of water leaked from a foundation drain associated with a storage basin on the plant site where a large volume of contaminated waste is being held. The leak went into a storm water detention area that also contained water from snow melt. Some of the water from the detention area flowed into Mallard Creek. The leak was addressed, regulators were quickly notified and they continue to support and monitor plant cleanup and mitigation activities.
• Expanded plant and creek water quality monitoring continues to assess whether any impact to the receiving creek occurs as a result of this criminal dumping activity into the public sanitary sewer system and wastewater treatment plant.
• A multi-agency criminal Task Force led by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department continues following up on any and all leads, and asks anyone with information on these cases of illegal sewer system dumping to call a specially designated hotline at 704-619-4904.
• CMUD provided the City of Belmont with operational assistance following detection of what may have been an illegal sewer system dumping incident into a privately-owned grease trap discovered Monday in the City of Belmont.

o     Information distributed to news media Tuesday morning by the Belmont Police Department indicated the possible detection of PCBs in the dumped material, but the PCB presence was subsequently ruled out Tuesday by City of Belmont officials.