A sewer spill described by a Woodstock city official as “major” dumped 19,400 gallons into a detention pond near the downtown area.

The incident happened Monday morning, July 20, when a sewer pipe separated at a joint at a manhole at 105 Arnold Mill Road, according to a spill report filed by Woodstock Water and Sewer Director Pat Flood with the Environmental Protection Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.

The spillage, in a wooded area at the east side of the Arnold Mill property, flowed into a detention pond along an unnamed tributary of Rubes Creek.

Flood said city crews shut off an upstream sewer pump station, set up a bypass pump at the spill site, pumped out the manhole and then pumped 22,500 gallons from the detention pond to a downstream sanitary sewer manhole. The city also brought in heavy equipment and hauled away 39 cubic yards of contaminated soil and sludge.

The hauling ended Wednesday, July 22, when crews put out lime, finished cleaning up and posted advisory signage in the area.