COLUMBIA — Route UU was closed for four hours Tuesday night after a car collided with a truck carrying sewage sludge, causing all 5,900 gallons of the muck to spill onto the highway.
At 7:50 p.m., a tractor-trailer going north on Route UU was struck by a car going in the opposite direction half a mile south of Denninghoff Road, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol online traffic crash report.
The report stated that the car slid on the wet pavement into the bottom of the trailer and broke it open. It had been raining earlier in the evening.
The tractor-trailer, under contract with Oros & Busch Application Technologies, was hauling sludge from the Columbia Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant to a farm in Callaway County, Public Works spokeswoman Jill Stedem said.
Eight Boone County firefighters, a fire engine and the hazardous materials unit responded with the help of the Missouri State Highway Patrol. Missouri Department of Transportation and Pro Pumping and Hydrojetting also assisted in the cleanup.
After the areas of the spill was diked and dammed, a pump truck was called in to remove the waste. Lime was then spread in the ditches to kill any remaining bacteria.
“There are no health issues for people to be concerned about,” said Gale Blokenkamp, chief of the Boone County Fire Protection District Division .
The truck driver wasn’t injured, but the driver of the passenger vehicle was taken to University Hospital with minor injuries. She was treated and released.