Midlands rivers saw a marked increase in spills last year. That’s the word from the Congaree Riverkeeper, the nonprofit organization tasked with advocating for the rivers, one of the area’s key natural features.

“For the last eleven years we have compiled an annual sewer spill report for Congaree Riverkeeper's jurisdictional area (which includes the Lower Saluda, Lower Broad, and Congaree Rivers, and their tributaries) using data from DHEC's Sewer Overflow Database,” the group writes in its report. "In 2023 there were 114 reported sanitary sewer overflows (SSO's) totaling 4,190,509 gallons of sewage spilled in our watershed. This is a very significant increase from previous years.”

“The more than 4 million gallons of sewage spilled in 2023 marks the second largest total volume of sewage spilled in all the years we've compiled these annual reports,” Riverkeeper adds. “Approximately 94% of that total volume is related to two specific events experienced by the City of Columbia: a nearly 3.5 million gallon spill on April 9 ... and a half a million gallon spill in August caused by a mechanical issue.  All of these spills highlight the need to invest in sewer systems, conduct regular preventative maintenance, and perhaps most importantly, to learn from past mistakes so they won't happen again.”

The spills listed are as follows:

• City of Columbia — 87 spills, 4,084,723 gallons spilled, 97.48% of total spilled
• Richland County (Broad River WWTP) — 7 spills, 43,946 gallons spilled, 1.05% of total spilled
• Richland County (Eastover WWTP) — 2 spills, 40,500 gallons spilled, 0.97% of total spilled
• Fairfield County (Winnsboro Jackson Creek WWTP) — 1 spill, 9,000 gallons spilled, 0.21% of total spilled
• Southwest Water Company (Alpine, Bush River, and Woodland WWTPs) — 10 spills, 3,600 gallons spilled, 0.09% of total spilled
• Lower Richland Bus Transit Station — 1 spill, 3,000 gallons, 3,000 gallons spilled, 0.07% of total spilled
• Fort Jackson Sewer Collections System — 2 spills, 1,580 gallons spilled, 0.04% of total spilled
• Blue Granite Water Company — 2 spills, 1,500 gallons spilled, 0.04% of total spilled
• City of Cayce — 1 spill, 1,000 gallons, 0.02% of total spilled

The report lists the overall number of spills from the City of West Columbia and the Town of Lexington as unknown within Riverkeeper’s jurisdiction.

“This report only represents the reported sanitary sewer overflows within the Congaree Riverkeeper jurisdictional area,” it notes. “Some sewer providers in the Midlands had spills that impacted other waterbodies outside of our jurisdiction. For example, the Town of Chapin had numerous spills impacting Lake Murray, Palmetto Utilities impacting the Spears Creek / Wateree River watershed, and the Town of St Matthews impacting the headwaters of Lake Marion.”

“This report also only accounts for sewer overflows that were reported to DHEC or that we had public information about,” it adds. “Some sewer providers and satellite sewer systems experienced spills but failed to officially report the data to DHEC, including the City of West Columbia and the Westwood Estates Apartments (formerly Riverbend Apartments).”