The Town of Mount Olive experienced a sanitary sewer overflow totaling approximately 270,000 gallons inside the Town’s wastewater treatment plant on Wednesday, March 31, 2021. This overflow was discovered at 8:00 P.M. and as of Thursday April 1, 2021 at 8:00 A.M. was still ongoing. The spill was the result of 1.6 inches of rainfall over a one-hour period.

The Division of Water Quality was notified of these spills on March, 31, 2021.

The Town is currently working to resolve issues with inflow and infiltration into the sewer collections system and to address land applications issues at wastewater treatment plant itself. Funding has been secured to address issues with the Town’s wastewater treatment plant.

The North Carolina General Assembly enacted House Bill 1160 in July 1999. This Bill requires municipalities to release information to the public within 24 hours when a sanitary sewer overflow of 1,000 gallons or more reaches surface waters. It requires a Public Notice in addition to the Press Release if the discharge is more than 15,000 gallons.