Photo by the Evening SunA big stink became of a youth football game in Scotland this past week. The game had to be canceled after a cesspool erupted in the "pitch." Referee William McKenzie made the winning call when he said, "There was no way I was going let the boys wade in that and get the ball so for health and safety reasons I called the match off. It was disgusting and appalling." The boys agreed and to celebrate they ran and slid through the mess in jubilation. Just kidding.

And now, the spills of the week:

Uhhh...No Problems Here: Police closed Sligh Avenue between Rome and North Blvd. in Tampa, FL due to a large hole in the road caused by a sewage line rupture. And that's apparently all we need to know about this spill. Who cares about public health, how's traffic?
- November 19, 2007: WTSP News Channel 10 - Tampa, FL

Time to Move!: A Decatur man awoke to a smelly situation this weekend. Sewage rushed into his home from a malfunctioning substation behind his home. The substation went off line Saturday and sewage overran Terry Owens's home. "I heard water bubbling and running out into the hallway," said Owens. Then he realized the substation was flooding his home for a third time. "You can see the water line here, where it has came up and overflowed over the tub," said Owens. Decatur Utilities estimates that 100,000 gallons of sewage filled Baker's Creek before they cleaned it out behind Terry's home. For now fans are in Terry's home trying to dry out mold caused by the sewage. Decatur Utilities is meeting with the engineers who built the substation Tuesday to figure out why sewage continues to explode all over Terry's home. Must be a good view.
- November 19, 2007: 19 WHNT-TV, Huntsville, AL

SIKE! 500K!: This is the spill we warned about by the New Riverkeeper last week on the Slog. Initial reports put the spill at 100,000 gallons but now it's up to 500,000 gallons of sewage. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources' first report said about 100,000 gallons of untreated sewage spilled from a pumping station at one of Camp Lejeune's housing areas. Then the Marine Corps later said the number was 500,000 gallons. The spill has been stopped and the base's environmental division is investigating. Officials say the warning is for the area including the state Highway 24 wildlife ramp, Wilson Bay and Northeast Creek downstream to French's Creek.
- November 20, 2007: The News & Observer - Raleigh/Durham, NC

Happens All The Time!: San Leandro Creek remains closed after a sewage pipe broke last week and leaked sewage into the creek. The break spilled contaminants all over the surrounding area, according to the city's Public Works Department. The Public Works Department was notified around noon Thursday of the pipe break near Benedict Drive. The creek was closed to the public over the weekend. The sad thing is Public Works said, "It was just an old pipe. That happens all the time." But Rick Richards, president of the Friends of San Leandro Creek, said, "I always have a concern when we have a situation like that, and I want to make sure anything that occurs gets remediated. But I have confidence ... that it will be taken care of."
- November 20, 2007: San Mateo County Times, San Mateo, CA

Digging Up Doo Doo: About 4,000 gallons of sewage spilled into the North Atascadero drainage ditch Monday afternoon when a city-owned pumping station broke down. The sewage was confined to the ditch near El Camino Real and San Ramon Road and did not enter area creeks or waterways, county Environmental Health Services Director Curtis Batson said. Crews using a vacuum truck removed about 3,000 gallons from the spill and excavated about 15 cubic yards of soil damaged by the sewage. Batson blamed the spill on a mechanical failure at the pump.
- November 21, 2007: San Luis Obispo - San Luis, CA

4,000 Malfunction Junction: Anne Arundel County crews were sent to cleanup a 4,000-gallon wastewater spill in Annapolis, MD a county spokesman said. A malfunction in the control system in the Jennifer Road Pumping Station about 11:40 a.m. Tuesday caused a backup and sent an overflow of untreated sewage into the creek for about half an hour, said Matt Diehl. The spill was cleaned up within 12 hours of the spill and the pumping station problem was repaired.
- November 21, 2007: Baltimore Sun - Baltimore, MD

You Smell Fries or???: A corroded pipe that runs from Wendy's Old Fashioned Hamburgers to the sanitary sewer underneath Greensboro Street leaked an undetermined amount of sewage into nearby storm drains and then into a drainage ditch that feeds into Morgan Creek. Residents in the area first complained about the smell earlier this month and prompting the town to investigate a spill of oily, opaque water coming from the pipe. After tracking down the source, officials say they're confident they've found the problem to be the Wendy's. "The problem was caused by a cast iron sewer line that had corroded," Konsler said. Wendy's is working to fix the problem. Fast food and fast fixin's ...on the sewer line.
- November 21, 2007: The Carrboro Citizen - Carrboro, NC

Gone with the Grease: A grease clog caused a 360 gallon sewage spill from at manhole near the intersection of Meadows Street and Griffin Avenue in New Bern, NC. The spill happened around 8:30 p.m. Tuesday and lasted for about 45 minutes, according to a report sent to the Division of Water Quality's regional office in Washington, N.C. About 100 gallons of sewage leaked into "some kind of surface water," but not necessarily the Neuse River, said Al Hodge, the regional surface water protection supervisor for the division. "...based on the size of the spill, the ‘surface water' it made it to might have just been a ditch or a side of the road."
- November 21, 2007: Sun Journal - New Bern, NC