WQCS00003_NOI_NOV2022DV0061_Response_20220315

14
Winston-Salem / Forsyth County
Utties
Water •Wastewater • Solid Waste
Administration, P.O. Box 2511, Winston-Salem, NC 27102
O: 336-727-8000, F: 336-727-8432, wskutilities.org
March 15, 2022
Lon T. Snider, Regional Supervisor
North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality
Division of Water Resources
450 West Hanes Mill Road, Suite 300
Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27105
Re: Sanitary Sewer Overflow Civil Penalties Incident #202102237
Dear Mr. Snider:
NC Department of
Environmental Quality
Received
MAR 2 2 2022
Winston-Salem
Regional Office
This letter serves as the official response from Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Utilities to the
North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, Division of Water Resources Notice of
Intent to Enforce Civil Penalty for the December 3, 2021 sanitary sewer overflow, Incident
#202102237, located at 880 Powell Street in Winston-Salem. This incident was caused by pipe
failure.
On December 3, 2021 at 2:00pm, an SSO occurred at 880 Powell Street in Winston-Salem. First
responders discovered rain had severely eroded the embankment on a tributary of Salem
Creek, causing the sewer main to fail. Utilities staff plugged the upstream manhole and
deployed pump and haul to stop the spill.
On December 4, 2021, Utilities staff made temporary repairs and flow was restored by
11:15am. A diffuser was deployed for four hours and the spill area was cleaned following
standard protocol. Upstream and downstream mains were cleaned and inspected by CCTV with
no visual defects observed.
This line has been added to our current projects for permanent repair. The embankments will
also be restored to provide a more secure foundation for the pipe in the future.
asmCity Council: Mayor Allen Jones; Denise D. Adams, Mayor Pm Tempore, North Ward; Barbara Hanes Burke, Narthwast Ward; RobertC. Clark, Wert Ward;
John C. Larson, South War; Jeff Mad Mash, Northwest Ward; Kevin Mundy, Southwest Ward; Annette Scippio, East Ward; James Taylor, Jr., Southeast Ward;
City Manager: Lee D. Gamty
County Commissbners: David R. P yler, Chair, Don Martin, Vice Chair; Fleming EI-Amin; Ted Kaplan; Richard V. Linville; Tonyo McDaniel; Glona D. Whisenhunry
Call 311 or 336-727-8000 County Manager: Dudley Watts, Jr.
M link Cn OtW$,or Winston5alem/ForsythCount, Utility Commission: Randall S. ruche, Cher, L. Wesley Curtis,J, Vice Chair, Harold E. Day; Harold Eustadm; Tom Griffin;
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"1 �fty A Yvonne H.Hints; Duane Long; Hugh W.Jernigan; Chris Parker, Charles Wilson; Allan Younger

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WSFCUtilities continues to make progress in minimizing SSOs and has the proper programs in
place to continue our high level of performance. Our comprehensive sanitary sewer evaluation
study has provided strategic cleaning and examination of our system to identify areas with the
greatest need for repair and replacement.
While we are required to clean 10% of the system each year, in FY 2020-2021, WSFC Utilities
cleaned more than 330 miles. This is 19% of the 1,783-mile gravity wastewater collection
system and 228 of those miles (69%) were proactively cleaned by in-house and contracted
crews. Our ongoing internal goal is to clean at least 20% of the entire gravity collection system,
with more frequent cleaning systematically scheduled for areas with higher incident levels.
I hope this information is helpful with your investigation of Incident #202102237. If you require
additional information, please contact me at 336-747-7315.
Sincerely,
I
Courtney Driver, P.E.
Utilities Director
cc: Michael Stover, P.E., Deputy Utilities Director
Kenny Atkins, Utilities Field Operations Manager
Antonio Martinez, ORC
File