Lewisville officials are warning residents near the 700 block of East Valley Ridge Boulevard to take safety steps after a contractor accidentally struck a wastewater pipeline, releasing at least 100,000 gallons of domestic wastewater into Prairie Creek on Thursday.
The incident occurred around 11:30 a .m. Thursday, when the contractor’s equipment damaged a pressurized pipe in the city’s wastewater collection system. City crews initially contained the flow within the excavation site, but at about 4:30 p.m. the water breached the work area and entered the creek. The discharge lasted roughly five minutes before the contractor built an improvised berm that halted further movement toward the Elm Fork of the Trinity River, according to a city press release cited by the Cross Timbers Gazette.
City officials have confirmed that the spill has not affected Lewisville’s municipal drinking water. However, they are urging anyone who may have come into contact with the contaminated soil or water to bathe and wash clothing promptly. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) guidelines also recommend the following precautions for residents in the potentially affected area:
- Avoid direct contact with waste material, soil, or water.
- Anyone using a private well within one‑half mile of the spill should boil water for at least one minute or use distilled water for drinking, cooking, bathing, and tooth brushing.
- Well owners should have their water tested and disinfected before returning to normal use.
- Those on public water supplies should contact their provider to verify safety.
The city is pumping the wastewater that remains within the bermed section of Prairie Creek to the treatment plant for proper processing. Ongoing repairs are underway, and city staff continue to monitor both Prairie Creek and downstream areas to determine if additional cleanup will be required.
Lewisville has notified the TCEQ of the incident and will submit any required follow‑up information, including the final estimated volume that entered Prairie Creek and details of corrective actions, as the investigation proceeds.
What’s next: City engineers expect to complete repairs to the damaged pipe within the next several days. Monitoring of water quality in Prairie Creek will continue for at least two weeks, and the city will issue a final report to the TCEQ and the public once the total spill volume is confirmed.
Sources: crosstimbersgazette.com
