A contractor’s error when building a new housing development caused a 240,315-gallon spill of untreated sewage in Fuquay-Varina, town officials reported Thursday.

When people started to move into the 22-home development earlier this year, the contractor should have removed a plug separating the development’s sewage system from the town’s pipes, Michael Wagner, Fuquay-Varina’s utilities director, said in an interview.

That plug wasn’t removed, though, resulting in a sewage backup and ultimately a spill out of a manhole in a wooded area on the road’s southern edge..

“Everything kind of backed up and then it ultimately just found the lowest level and a spot to relieve itself,” Wagner said.

To clean the spill up, utility staff dug a hole and placed a pump into it, Wagner said. Then the town sprayed as much of the sewage and wastewater as possible back into the hole and pumped it back into the sewer system before using a vacuum truck to remove it.

Then, utility employees spread lime over the disturbed earth in an effort to kill any bacteria or pathogens before putting hay over the area.

The town reported that there was no detrimental impact to the nearby stream, an unnamed tributary of Basal Crrek, or to the surrounding area.

An erosion control fence still in place from the construction may have prevented the sewage from spreading further, Wagner said.

As a result of this spill, Wagner said, Fuqay-Varina will require its engineering inspectors to watch developers remove the plug separating the new sewage system from the town’s utilities in future developments.

Fuquay-Varina officials have reported the spill to the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality, which could issue a notice of violation to the town.

The spill is the fourth-largest in North Carolina this year, according to DEQ records.

Monday, Havelock reported a 585,000-gallon spill from wastewater treatment basins following heavy rainfall, according to WNCT. That followed a reported 500,000-gallon spill in January after an underground line broke around the city’s wastewater plant.

The other larger spill was in Morganton, where on Jan. 9 city officials reported a spill of 560,000 gallons after flooding in the area.