Florence Public Works officials explain overflow cleanup

FLORENCE — Florence Public Works crews had to clean up a major mess after a sewage overflow last week.

It happened early Friday morning at the Middle Swamp pump station on Pamplico Highway when 90,000 gallons of waste accidentally overflowed into Jeffries Creek.

Public works officials believe a blown fuse or lightning may have been to blame for the pump accidentally switching off and causing the overflow.

“The fuse blew ... and it simply caused the pumps to go off,” Florence Public Works Director Drew Griffin said, “and when the pumps go off, then it’s obviously no longer pumping the sewer from the sewer system, downstream.”

Within an hour, workers were attempting to stop the overflow and contain the mess.

“What the city does, it goes into the area, it picks up and collects any associated debris with the surcharge and then we also disinfect any of the areas impacted,,” Griffin said. “We do that with lime or chlorine depending on the situation.”

Public works officials said it may seem like there’s an increasing number of such overflows, but that’s just because in the past couple of years, the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control has required the city to notify the public in cases where the overflow is more than 5,000 gallons. Previously, there was no such notification.

The main message city officials want to stress is that they handle each overflow quickly and carefully to ensure the public’s safety.

“In this case, it would have absolutely no effect,” Griffin said. “It’s a concern ... it definitely doesn’t have any lasting, or even a day later, effect.”

DHEC took water samples from the site to analyze them and to document that there was no threat to public health or the environment.

Officials also said a project is in the works to alleviate some of the heavy flow conditions at the Middle Swamp site.