MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WBTW) – A water advisory was lifted Monday evening following a sewer line break and spill.
On Sunday a break in a sewer line was reported on Boundary Street. The line was quickly shut down, but not before approximately 15,000 gallons of sewage flowed into a ditch that connects with Withers Swash.
“We had a break in an older line. It was about one foot in size. We think it spilled about 15 thousand gallons,” said City Spokesperson Mark Kruea, “That would’ve flowed into a ditch, that ultimately connected to Withers Swash. And half a mile or so down withers swash would be the ocean.”
As a precaution the city installed water advisory signs, warning beach-goers not to swim in the ocean water near Withers Swash.
“Withers Swash flows to the beach and we just want to make sure that should there be rainfall that carries any contaminants with it into the swash and out to the beach, that people are aware of that when they’re out there in the ocean,” said Kruea.
One family sitting vacationing from Ohio didn’t see the advisory signs when they first sat down. After learning about the testing taking place on Monday, they decided to move their location.
Just after 4 p.m. the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control and the City of Myrtle Beach announced both Withers Swash and the ocean water tested normal.
A statement from SCDHEC read in part:
“DHEC’s latest sample collected from the Withers Swash sampling location (WAC-022a) shows Enterococcus bacteria levels are 31 colony-forming units/100 milliliter, which is well within the normal range of 104 CFU/100 mL.”
You can find more information about water testing and DHEC’s Beach Monitoring Program by visiting their website.
