The high water that washed through Alamance County via the Haw River carried a lot of local sewage downstream, which can be a risk to the health of people living downstream and the environment, but it can be hard to know what’s in it.
More than 120,000 gallons of untreated sewage was reported spilled from waste-water systems in Alamance County.
“Unless you test, it’s more of a guessing game,” Sobsey said.
Raw sewage in the river is a big deal, said Sutton, but there is also industrial waste with heavy metals and other contaminants to think about.
“The heavy metals are a big concern, and, obviously, so are the bacteria and contaminates from the untreated sewage,” Sutton said.
While the town of Pittsboro draws drinking water from the Haw River, Sutton said, and so faces the possibility of contamination, Alamance County municipalities mostly get water from reservoirs like Lake Mackintosh and Graham-Mebane Lake, which, Sutton said are pretty well protected from whatever is flowing down the river.
“Alamance has such a great park system that flows along the Haw, Sutton said, “So Alamance County has a lot of tourism just based on the health of the river, so not only is it a threat for water used downstream, but it’s a threat for recreational users.” The Haw River water flows into Jordan Lake as well.
“A flood of organic matter in a waterway leads to huge increases in oxygen-consuming bacteria which are breaking the material down.
In addition, the organic matter feeds algae which can lead to large algal blooms, with the possibility of harmful blooms that produce toxins,” wrote Bridget Munger, Deputy Communications Director with the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality.
So far the Haw River Assembly hasn’t seen any fish kills in the lake, Sutton said, in part because the Army Corps of Engineers is managing water flows through the lake to keep those nutrients from building up.