Somewhere between 1,000 and 5,000 gallons of untreated wastewater poured into Sedona's Oak Creek on Sunday evening after a grease clog, likely tied to a nearby restaurant, backed up a manhole near State Route 179 and sent sewage spilling into a storm drain. City crews got the leak stopped within two hours, but the exact scope of the mess, and what it means for the creek, is still being sorted out.
Sedona's Public Works Wastewater Division learned of the spill at roughly 5:30 p.m. Sunday, with the sewer trouble traced to 671 SR 179, according to Red Rock News. The outlet reported that the problem appeared to begin with a restaurant grease clog that ultimately pushed untreated liquid effluent out of a manhole and into a storm drain connected to the creek. AZ Family reported that officials pinpointed the spill's origin to the Hozho Distinctive Shops plaza along SR 179.
Crews got the spill contained by around 7:30 p.m., within two hours of the initial notification, and disinfected the affected area afterward, per the same account. City officials said they are now conducting water-quality tests on the creek and plan to share results once they come back, though no results had been released as of Monday. Staff also planned to begin notifying property owners adjacent to the spill site starting at 7 a.m. Monday.
A Creek With a History of Sewage Trouble
This is far from Oak Creek's first brush with sewage contamination. In August 2020, a spill of 15,000 to 20,000 gallons near the Hillside Sedona shopping center flowed into the creek through a storm drain, and that incident was contained and disinfected around 8:30 p.m. the same night, redrocknews.com reported at the time. A separate, smaller spill that June lasted about 15 minutes and involved roughly 1,000 gallons, the outlet noted.
The city's wastewater system has also struggled with weather-driven failures. After heavy rainfall in the summer of 2021, an overwhelmed pump system spilled 1,500 gallons of raw sewage into the creek, according to azcentral.com. A year earlier, in 2020, a contractor repairing a sewer main accidentally released 20,000 gallons of raw sewage that eventually drained into Oak Creek, the same report found.
What Happens Next
For now, the central unknowns are what the pending water-quality tests will show and whether any downstream effects follow. Sedona officials have not released test results or recreational-use guidance for the creek as of Monday. The city has not identified the restaurant tied to the suspected grease clog, and it remains unclear whether all of the planned notifications to adjacent property owners had been completed.
