Photo by Alice Nalepka
Another 100,000 gallons of wastewater is heading toward White Rock Lake today after sewage overflowed from a golf course in Plano.
Officials in that city are working to contain the spill, which started at Gleneagles Country Club, which abuts the lake-feeding White Rock Creek.
The last time this happened, in late June, it was 10 times worse. That was 1 million gallons, which overflowed 12 miles up creek. The City of Plano managed to contain that spill within a mile of its origin.
It did shut down water activities at White Rock Lake for a weekend as a precaution that time.
These spills can happen when very heavy rain overwhelms inflow and filtration systems, says City of Plano spokesman Steve Stoler.
City of Plano public works crews respond to the overflows as quickly as possible to begin the cleanup process. If the spill enters a creek, those crews routinely walk along the creek searching for any debris, which if found, is immediately removed. They also search for signs of fish kills. In most cases, the sewage is quickly diluted not only by the water that seeped into the line, but also rushing waters of the creeks fueled by runoff/flooding.Â
