MOBERLY - The state Department of Natural Resources is investigating a sewage overflow in Randolph County and a sewage backup that flowed into a Boone County creek.
The two incidents were reported on Monday morning. DNR spokesman Judd Slivka says the situation was taken care of quickly.
"This was a very fast reaction. In fact, it was an exemplary reaction on the part of the sewer district to get it treated and get it cleaned up before bad things could happen," Slivka said on how Boone County handled the accidental discharge of sludge into a nearby tributary.
The discharge in Boone County happened at the Clearview Wastewater Treatment Facility as a result of a power outage in one of the clarifiers used to filter out the sludge. As a result, the sludge backed out and came over the top of the clarifier pump, Slivka said. Sludge leaked into a tributary of Rocky Fork Creek, but it is not known if any made it into the creek.
A large sewage spill can cause health and environmental problems.
Slivka says these overflows are pretty common and can happen for a number of reasons. In Moberly, roots clogged a sewer line and as a result waste and carbon sludge escaped from a manhole on Lakewood Drive. The sludge reached Rothwell Lake, but not enough to cause harm to the aquatic life.
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