WQCS00055_NOV-2023-DV-0240_20230714

City of Henderson
° Public Works Department
�o Post Office Box 1434 • 900 S. Beckford Drive
CA Henderson, NC 27536-1434
Phone: [phone] Fax: [phone]
July 14, 2023
Mr. Scott Vinson, Regional Supervisor
Water Quality Regional Operations Section
Raleigh Regional Office
Division of Water Resources, NCDEQ
1628 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-1628
Re: Response to Notice of Violation & Intent to Issue Civil Penalty
Tracking No. — NOV-2023-DV-0240
Sanitary Sewer Overflows — May 2023
Henderson Collection System
Permit No. — WQCS00055
Dear Mr. Vinson:
I am writing in response to the above -mentioned violation that we received on June 12, 2023. The
overflow in this incident was due to a line break on a 12" cast iron force main. Fortunately, we have a
16" force main that parallels the 12" force main so we were able to isolate the break and send all flow
through the 16" force main. Once we were able to isolate the break, the flow of untreated water into
the creek stopped.
After we isolated the break, we put our efforts into cleaning the spill before making the repair. We
damned the creek downstream of the break and pumped approximately 156,000 gallons of
contaminated creek water into a nearby manhole. We walked the creek raking and cleaning debris as
necessary. We also cleaned debris, removed contaminated soil and placed lime around the spill site.
To make the repair we had to replace a 10-foot section of 12" cast iron pipe. We used ductile iron pipe
and ductile iron sleeves with restrained joint glands to connect it all together. Before we backfilled, we
put the line back in service to make sure we did not have any leaks.
While working on the repair Mitch Hayes with the Water Quality Section visited the site. Mitch was
satisfied with our efforts to mitigate the spill.
We take our responsibility to maintain compliance for our collection system very seriously. I trust that
you find the City's actions for compliance are satisfactory. Thank you very much for the opportunity to
respond. Please feel free to contact our staff or myself should you need any further information.
Sincerely,
Lee Owen
Public Works Director

CC: Edward Terrell Blackmon, City Manager
Joey Long, Assistant Public Works Director, Utilities Division / Collection System ORC
Christy Lipscomb, Water Resources Director / ORC
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