Heavy rainfall causes two sewage spills in Austin,

Heavy rains on Tuesday broke a sewage line and sent an unknown amount of raw sewage cascading into LittleWalnut Creek near U.S. 290 and Ed Bluestein Boulevard, city officials said.

Across town, a malfunction at a northwest Austin wastewater lift station spilled 161,000 gallons of raw sewage on the station’s property near Bullick Hollow Road. AustinWater officials attributed that malfunction to the heavy rains as well.

AustinWater utility workers used vacuum trucks to clean up the lift station spill and had finished those repairs at 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, four hours after the spill. Crews were still workingWednesday night in LittleWalnut Creek.

“We have vacuums and that will get quite a bit out of the creek,” said Jason Hill, a spokesperson for AustinWater. “But a lot of it eventually gets washed through the system.”

According to AustinWater, the sewage did not contaminate the city’s drinking water supply, but the department recommends people who use well water within a halfmile of either spill boil water before drinking, cooking, bathing or brushing their teeth with it.

AustinWater utility engineers onWednesday night were still trying to determine how many gallons spilled into LittleWalnut Creek, Hill said.

The sewage lines near LittleWalnut Creek were likely damaged during the Halloween floods, and heavy rain this week was the final straw, Hill said. Parts of Travis County received nearly five inches of rain this week, according to the NationalWeather Service.