Pollutants from broken pipe leaking into Ashley River, solution underway

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) – A broken storm water pipe off Lockwood Drive is making for a murky mess in a creek next to the Ashley River.

“The main issue here is the water quality in the Ashley River. Of course, the creek drains to the Ashley River, so this is of great concern to everyone,” said Tim Keane, the Planning, Engineering, and Permitting Section Chief for the City of Charleston.

Keane explained the pipe is part of the storm water system and was built through a landfill which he said was capped in the 1970s. The area is monitored closely for this reason.

According to Keane, the city became aware of damage to the pipe last summer.

“The first thing we did was just clean out the pipe to see if that would fix it and it seemed to for a while but then it began again. So, an initial repair was done. Continued to monitor it. That didn’t solve the problem,” Keane told News 2.

Since the first repair failed, pollutants from the landfill are still leaking into the creek and river. Charleston Mayor William Cogswell recently saw the pipe for himself, and the city is now revisiting the problem.

Officials applied to get a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to make a second repair and hopefully stop the leak.

“We just received information that was requested from the city on the 27 ^th of June. So, we are currently reviewing that information to determine what the best course of action is and whether or not a permit can be issued,” said Courtney Stevens, who serves as the Chief of the South Atlantic Division Technical Regional Execution Center for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

While the city awaits a solution, Keane said one action they will try avoid is plugging the pipe altogether.

“You think about the heavy rains we get, and we want to make sure that any repair we make doesn’t make the situation worse. Because one thing we could do is make the wrong change here, and then you’ve got some kind of back up into the streets from the storm water system,” Keane shared.

The Army Corps didn’t have a timeline for the permitting process, however Keane said he is hopeful a solution could come in the next few weeks.

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