The City of Commerce issued a statement today describing an "accidental discharge" of wastewater near the city's wastewater treatment plant. Flooding led to the failure of a sewer line on June 3, and flooding also prevented repairs on the line until June 9, the city said.
The discharge of untreated wastewater happened at what the release described as an "unnamed creek" about 900 feet west of the city's treatment plant at 4000 FM 3218 in Commerce. The facility is located near the southern city limits, south of Bradford Place Apartments and north of the South Sulphur River.
The city estimates that during the 6-7 days of the leak, about 8.6 million gallons of wastewater went into the creek bed, which flows into the South Sulphur River. That leak composed less than a tenth of a percent of the river's estimated 14 billion gallons of flow during that period, the city said.
The city said that state regulators were made aware of the leak and water tests were conducted and submitted to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. The land around the site of the spill will be cleaned once the ground dries out enough to allow for work, the city said.
The complete statement is here.
