The city of Starkville is working to repair a sewage line that ruptured near the wastewater treatment plant on Sand Road.
The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality issued a water contact advisory on Sunday for a section of Hollis Creek from the plant, which is located at 305 Sand Road, to where Hollis Creek joins the Noxubee River. MDEQ’s release says the advisory was caused by the rupture of a six inch line going into the plant. That rupture led to sewage discharge entering Hollis Creek.
Mayor Lynn Spruill said the city was conducting regular testing when it discovered the break on Sunday. She said the city immediately began mitigation efforts and notified MDEQ.
“You mitigate by diluting, and then you obviously work on the rupture at the same time,” Spruill said. “We’ve got pumps in place for this morning’s (Monday’s) work. They should already be out there, working to find the issue.”
Starkville Utilities Director Terry Kemp said the contact advisory means people are advised to stay out of the water in Hollis Creek. However, he said the advisory does not have any impact on Starkville’s drinking water. He said there are some houses in the plant’s general vicinity, but it should have limited impact because the plant is on Starkville’s southern border and Hollis Creek flows south out of the city.
Kemp said Monday morning that a contractor was on site and excavating near the failure point. He said once they got to the line, the city would be able to see what caused the break.
“Really, we won’t know until we get down into the pipe,” Kemp said. “We’re excavating right now. It’s like a failure of one of the joints, but that would just be speculation.”
Alex Holloway was formerly a reporter with The Dispatch.
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