Again? Fourth Major Wastewater Spill Reported In Amarillo

I am beginning to feel like Bill Murray in the movie Groundhog Day. Once again, Amarillo City officials are reporting another large wasterwater spill has happened. For those keeping count, this is now the 4th large spill that has occurred since June 23. In my 3+ years living here in Amarillo, I never remember this ever being a problem before. Something needs to be done as more and more of these spills keep happening this summer. This amount of pollution going into our ground can not be good.

The latest spill took place on Tuesday (8/25/20) at a collection facility near I-40 and Lakeside Drive. The spill was due to a pump malfunction at Lift Station #29. Repairs were made Tuesday evening and the lift station is now operational. The volume of the spill was an estimated 250,000 gallons and was a combination of domestic, commercial and industrial wastewaters. The wastewater flowed into a storm sewer and into Playa Lake #26. All wastewater has been contained. Disinfectant has been placed on the spill area and crews are actively cleaning up the spill site. The regional office of the Texas Commission of Environmental Quality has been notified of the spill.

Back on June 23, over 400,000 gallons of wastewater spilled and ran down into the lake at Southeast Park. Crews had to close the park and clean the lake and surrounding area. A second spill of 450,000 gallons took place at Lift Station #40. Then another spill on August 3 took place again at Lift Station #40 with a volume of around 300,000 gallons. Since the first spill on June 23, over 1,400,000 gallons of wastewater have been spilled from the Amarillo waste system including the latest incident. Something needs to happen before we have a fifth spill on our hands.