Spill, Sewage, and Unknown-Substance Response: Protect, Observe, Notify, and Hand Off

1. 01

   Stop contact immediately

   Move people, pets, livestock, and equipment away from discolored water, sheen, foam, scum, odor, discharge, containers, or distressed wildlife. Restrict access when practical.

2. 02

   Use emergency services for immediate danger

   Call 911 or local emergency services for fire, explosion, injury, trapped exposure, or another immediate life threat. Chemical emergencies may also require medical evaluation even when symptoms are delayed.

3. 03

   Do not perform field identification

   Appearance, odor, color, or a handheld meter reading does not establish substance identity, toxicity, reportability, or safe access. Do not smell closely, touch materials, enter the water, or open containers.

Sources: [12], [13], [5]

Sources: [3], [4], [7]

• Reporter name, role, callback number, and whether observation is ongoing
• Waterbody name, jurisdiction, coordinates or nearest address, and safe access directions
• Date, time, time zone, weather, wind, rainfall, and tide or stage if relevant
• Visible sheen, color, foam, scum, debris, containers, discharge point, pipe, or infrastructure feature without touching
• Estimated extent using landmarks, shoreline length, or photo-backed description rather than entering the area
• Affected uses: swimming, drinking-water intake proximity, irrigation, fishing, boating, or wildlife concentration
• Photographs or video from a safe distance; do not disturb containers, booms, or carcasses placed by responders

Sources: [1], [5]

Use 911 or local emergency services for immediate danger. Then follow the current local, Tribal, state, utility, health, wildlife, spill, wastewater, pesticide, and environmental procedures that apply to your organization and location. Sewage releases may involve the publicly owned treatment works, health department, NPDES authority, or another designated contact in addition to environmental spill channels.

EPA encourages anyone who discovers a spill to report it to the National Response Center at 1-800-424-8802, which is staffed 24 hours a day. Legal duties to report oil or hazardous-substance releases depend on the substance, quantity, location, facility role, and jurisdiction; EPCRA and other programs add separate notification requirements for certain facilities and quantities. Do not tell field staff that NRC contact is mandatory for every observation or interchangeable with state, Tribal, utility, health, or pesticide reporting.

Record who was called, the number or portal used, date and time, case or reference number if provided, and what instructions were received about access, sampling, public notice, or cleanup. Do not delay urgent protection or exposure handoff to complete a reportability worksheet in the field.

Sources: [2], [1], [6], [14]

Sanitary sewer overflows discharge untreated or partially treated wastewater and can carry pathogens, nutrients, debris, and other pollutants. Combined sewer overflow programs may require real-time public notification in some jurisdictions. Field staff should report through the current wastewater utility, health, and environmental contacts rather than assuming one hotline covers every overflow type.

Flooding can damage septic and onsite wastewater systems and create contact risks on lawns, shorelines, and shallow water. CDC guidance emphasizes avoiding contact with septic waste, floodwater, and contaminated sediments and routing repairs through qualified professionals. A visible plume or odor near a lake does not by itself define safe recreation, irrigation, or drinking-water status.

Sources: [9], [10], [11]

Oil and other releases can harm fish, birds, mammals, plants, and shoreline habitat through coating, toxicity, smothering, and food-web effects. Note species affected, counts if safely estimable from a distance, behavior, and distribution relative to sheen, discharge, or foam.

Do not capture, handle, or transport oiled or distressed wildlife unless explicitly directed by the responsible wildlife or spill-response authority and trained personnel. Route fish kills, unusual mortality, or mass strandings through the current fisheries, wildlife, or environmental procedure and preserve photographs, location, and time without disturbing carcasses.

Sources: [15], [4]

• Leave containers, valves, markers, and discharge features undisturbed unless emergency services direct immediate action
• Do not place booms, absorbent, neutralizing agents, or cleanup equipment without incident-command or authority authorization
• Do not pump, aerate, or mix the water body to 'dilute' a release without an approved response plan
• Mark or restrict access to preserve footprints, stains, and infrastructure context for investigators
• Record deviations forced by life safety and report them to the authority promptly
• Keep volunteer, contractor, and staff actions within the authorized incident organization

Sources: [7], [8], [4]

1. 01

   Transfer a complete observation package

   Provide location, time, photos, weather, access status, notifications made, case numbers, exposure concerns, wildlife observations, and unknowns. State clearly what was not sampled, not identified, and not cleaned up.

2. 02

   Await sampling or cleanup authorization

   Collect samples, deploy equipment, or perform cleanup only under incident command, agency direction, or an approved quality plan with a receiving laboratory. Unauthorized collection can compromise legal, health, and ecological investigations.

3. 03

   Communicate without overclaiming

   Public messages should describe confirmed restrictions, who is investigating, and what remains unknown. Do not declare water safe, name a source from one clue, or announce recovery without authority-approved evidence.

Sources: [3], [1], [12]