TRA reports wastewater spill from Denton Creek regional wastewater system

ARLINGTON, Texas, March 21, 2002 -- Heavy rainfall flooding into the wastewater collection lines of Trinity River Authority's Denton Creek Regional Wastewater System, and the lines of the customer cities served by the system, have hydraulically overloaded the treatment plant and resulted in an overflow from a manhole on the west side of the treatment plant, north of Roanoke.

The flow in the pipeline was highly diluted and Cade Branch, the tributary of Denton Creek into which the wastewater drained, was also choked with flood water which further diluted the overflow. While highly undesirable, the overflow is not expected to have any impact on water quality in Lake Grapevine, which receives flow from Denton Creek.

TRA estimates that a total of 797,000 gallons of diluted wastewater escaped from the collection system from March 19 at 10:35 P.M. through March 20 at 1:35 A.M.