City of Nacogdoches says heavy rainfall caused sewage to overflow into creek

NACOGDOCHES, Texas (KTRE) - The city has said sanitary sewage overflowed into Lanana Creek this past week, but should pose minimal environmental risk.

Due to heavy rains and more than 7.5 inches of rain this past week, authorities said the City of Nacogdoches Wastewater Treatment Plant has been overwhelmed. The collection system reached maximum capacity, which city officials said resulted in an overflow of more than 100,000 gallons of rainwater and sanitary sewage from a manhole near the treatment plant into Lanana Creek.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has been notified, and the city said the environmental threat is minimal as the overflow was 95% rainwater.

Heavy rains have caused flooding on all waterways throughout the Nacogdoches system, and the Wastewater Treatment Plant experienced the same problem. Authorities said the system is rated for just less than 13 million gallons per day, and it experienced flows in excess of 18 million gallons per day.

To prevent flooding that would severely damage equipment and productivity, the plant went into “emergency bypass mode” but is now operating at normal capacity.