ROBERTSDALE, Alabama — An old problem has once again reared its ugly head in Robertsdale, but city officials say they are working on a solution to fix the problem.

Rains over the weekend once again caused sewage overflow issues as an estimated 100,000 to 1 million gallons of sewage was reportedly discharged into Rock Creek.

Nearly 3 inches of rain over the weekend caused the overflow, which happened overnight Sunday and into Monday, said city engineer Greg Smith.

“What happens is that storm water gets into the system and the pumps can’t keep up with the flow,” Smith said. “If we can catch it in time we have a bypass pump that we can turn on that stops the overflow, but if it happens overnight or on the weekend, we sometimes can’t catch it in time, causing overflow.”

Smith said the city is in the process of buying a larger pump that will be able to handle the additional storm water in the system.

This is the first time since a severe storm in April caused overflow in the system.

“That time we were able to catch it, just not in time,” Smith said, resulting in a brief overflow of less than 10,000 gallons.

The city is required to report a range of discharge to the health department, beginning at under 1,000; from 1,000 to 10,000; from 10,000 to 100,000; from 100,000 to 1 million; or over 1 million gallons.

Overflow problems became a nearly weekly occurrence in 2013 when several rain events were reported throughout the area, prompting steps by the city to help alleviate the problem.

Several overflows were reported in June, July and August, along with a few smaller overflows later in the year.

In May of that year, Smith said, the city was working to replace 8-inch piping, including several feet of piping that had disintegrated located west of College Avenue and south of Carolina Street with 10-inch line in hopes of reducing the overflow and help with sewer collection capabilities.

Approximately 1,500 feet of new piping was installed on the west side of College, with an additional 1,000 feet on the east side. Discharge was rerouted to the new piping once the entire project was completed.

According to a release issued Monday, the Baldwin County Health Department is urging caution if using Rock Creek for recreational purposes. Also, thoroughly cook any fish or seafood caught near by and wash hands after handling fish or seafood.

For information on the sewage spill call Robertsdale Utilities at 947-2466.