A total of about 5,000 gallons of untreated waste has escaped from the Town of Cary's sanitary sewer system over the last two days in two separate spills; neither incident resulted in a fish kill.

The first spill occurred around 2:30 p.m. on October 19 when a faulty air release valve near the 2000 block of Alston Avenue sent about 2,200 gallons of waste into a nearby storm drain. The waste was contained and did not reach a body of water. Town crews flushed the affected area and pumped the flushing water back into a Utility Vac Truck then discharged it back in to the collection system.

The second incident occurred around 8 a.m. on October 20 when bricks and asphalt blocked a sewer line near the 700 block of Branifff Drive and sent about 2,800 gallons of waste into an unnamed tributary of Crabtree Creek. Town crews flushed the affected area, and pumped the flushing water back into the collection system

"We take every spill very seriously and devote significant resources toward keeping them from occurring," said Sam Tingler, Chief of Utility Systems Maintenance for the Town of Cary.

Tingler noted that each day, the Town of Cary collects and treats about 12 million gallons of sewage from nearly 50,000 businesses and residents in Cary, Morrisville, and the Wake County portion of the Research Triangle Park.

The Clean Water Act requires public notice in the form of a news release issued by public works operators within 48 hours of the detection of a wastewater overflow of 1,000 gallons or greater that also reaches surface waters. Paid advertisements are also necessary for spills in excess of 14,999 gallons.