A manhole failure near Cobb Street in Lula resulted in some 28,400 gallons of pretreated sewage spilling into a Hagen Creek tributary, City Manager Dennis Bergin said.

“Concrete that had been placed inside the manhole to steer the wastewater into a pipe had failed,” Bergin said.

Officials were able to quickly find the spill and “take all the corrective measures, and we’re going to continue to monitor (the situation) for the next couple of days,” he said.

Bergin believes the environmental impact should be “minimal,” because the water, although not up to drinking standards, had been pretreated.

Sewer goes through several steps, including solid waste removal, before it is discharged into Hagen Creek.

This incident “was surprising to us, because normally we don’t have failures like that,” Bergin said.