Sewage spewed into tributary to Lake Norman on Thursday. Mooresville reveals the cause.
About 36,000 gallons of sewage was discharged near Brawley School Road and some made its way into a tributary of Lake Norman, Mooresville officials said.
The sewage spilled into an unnamed tributary of the lake after a pipe failure in the median of busy four-lane Brawley School Road, according to a town of Mooresville news release on Friday.
The break occurred in the 500 block of the road as town crews isolated a separate section of sewer line that a contractor damaged, officials said .
“Flow was inadvertently reversed, causing a pipe failure,” according to the town’s news release. “Town crews were able to correct the situation and stop the discharge almost immediately.”
Town staff were testing the water quality, but the spill didn’t appear big enough to harm people or the environment, according to the statement.
Emergency repairs were scheduled and will be completed as soon as possible, officials said.
The town alerted state environmental regulators who are reviewing what happened.
This story has been updated and corrected to reflect that the sewage did not spill directly into Lake Norman.
This story was originally published January 6, 2023 at 11:20 AM.