The town of Pittsboro has been told to be on alert after a break in a main line at a Burlington wastewater treatment plant dumped more than 3.5 million gallons of untreated wastewater into the Haw River from Monday evening through Wednesday afternoon, according to the Burlington Times-News.
This affects Pittsboro (population of around 4,000), which relies on the Haw River for its drinking water.
According to the Times-News, the city of Burlington has been “looking for visual signs of sewage and floating fish tails.” The freezing temperatures and snow have actually helped, because it has slowed down any possible “bacterial action.”