Charleston oyster harvesting is off limits after a 2.4-million-gallon sewage spill

Over the course of eight days, 2.4 million gallons of wastewater gushed into a marsh that leads to Charleston Harbor.

A breach in the sewer line was found on Monday after sewage had been spilling into the marsh beside the Stono River since Feb. 19, Count on 2 reported. Nearby shellfish harvesting areas have been closed for at least 21 days, and oysters from that area have been recalled.

“This closure affects shellfish harvesting from Charleston Harbor south to the North Edisto River. This includes all rivers and tributaries associated with them,” Mike Pearson, manager of the South Carolina Department of Heath and Environmental Control Shellfish Sanitation Section told Live 5 News.

This spill came just days before the 2018 Charleston Wine and Food Festival, scheduled for Feb. 28 through March 4. The festival’s social media pages did not have any posts concerning disruptions to the planned events.

On Saturday, an overflow and a series of equipment failures led to an estimated 8,000- to 12,000-gallon wastewater spill into Battery Creek in northern Beaufort County, according to a Beaufort-Jasper Water & Sewer Authority. Battery Creek shellfish harvesting areas also have been shut down for 21 days.

For more information on the Charleston spill, call DHEC’s Charleston Environmental Health Services Office at 843-953-0150.

This story was originally published March 1, 2018 at 5:36 PM with the headline "Charleston oyster harvesting is off limits after a 2.4-million-gallon sewage spill."