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TWSA is negotiating sewer plant compliance
By Justin Goble
Tuckaseigee Water and Sewer Authority officials are currently negotiating with the state to curb penalties brought on by faulty water treatment at the North River Road plant.
According to notices from the Environmental Protection Agency, the discharges from the aging plant were putting too much bacteria and suspended solids back into the Tuckaseigee River. This violates TWSA’s permit standards, which sets out standards for the plant’s releases.
During the water treatment process, wastewater is brought into clarifiers to filter out the harmful material. Bacteria is grown to destroy much of the organic waste, while the heavier solids must settle out. The EPA sets limits on how much of the solids and bacteria must be filtered out before the water can return to the river.
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TWSA wastewater plant Superintendant Stan Bryson takes a sample of solid material filtered out of the wastewater. “It’s safe to handle,” he said. “The state measures this not for health reasons but for regulatory reasons. They figure if you’re not filtering enough of this out, you’re not getting enough of the other stuff out.” Bryson said the plant is currently operating close to the regulated standards of bacteria and suspended solids that can be discharged into the river, but a minor mishap can completely change that. “Our permitted limit is 30 gallons per day (of discharge),” he said. “Normally, we run at 28 or 29. But if one thing breaks, we can have up to 250 gallons in one day.” – Herald photo by Justin Goble
TWSA Director Joe Cline said that officials are working with the EPA to bring the plant into compliance. The main avenue that has been taken so far is a Special Order of Consent applied for by TWSA.
“The SOC allows us to get a definite timeline established of when we’ll address the problems we have,” Cline said. “It’s the state’s way of working with us to try and solve the problem. We need that timeline, because the state isn’t going to accept us saying, ‘We’ll get around to it when we can.’”
Cline also said that complying with the SOC would help to curb many, if not all of the fines that have been imposed by the state.
“We have been assessed some fines, but those are in negotiations,” he said. “What the state might decide to do is roll over all of the fines and allow us to use those monies towards improvements. They may reduce the fines up to 50 percent. But right now we don’t know the exact dollar amount.”
However, an SOC would not let TWSA off easy, he said. Once state officials set goal dates for which problems must be addressed and fixed, TWSA must adhere to them or face even stiffer penalties and fines. Cline said that, as of yet, no timeline has been set, but TWSA officials are working closely with the state in an effort to get one established.
Problems at the plant stem from numerous sources, Cline said.
A major factor is the age of the plant. Now 30 years old, the plant has far outlived the lifespan of similar plants.
“Normally when wastewater plants are built, they are designed to have a 20 year lifetime,” Cline said. “This one has easily exceeded that 20 year lifespan.”
Also the plant’s clarifiers aren’t reacting well to the increased water flows. Cline said that the increased strain on the clarifiers has vastly decreased treatment time.
“They’re supposed to work for a certain amount of detention time,” he said. “With the increased amount of water flow the plant has been getting, the water is not getting the proper treatment.”
Lastly, Cline said that the recent growth of the area has stretched the capacity of the plant to its limits.
“We don’t have any room to give,” he said. “We’re rated to handle 1.5 million gallons of water per day, but we never reach that. We’re running at 1.2 million gallons per day right now. Normally, once you start running at 80 percent capacity, that’s when you start looking to expand.”
According to Stan Bryson, the plant superintendent, some of the problems the plant faces have only recently surfaced.
“We were running a few years with a drought, and that ended a couple of years ago,” he said. “When the water came back, we realized we were much closer to capacity than we thought. Also, this plant is a prime example of Murphy’s Law. If you change one thing, everything else changes with it.”
Cline said that, as of now, the facility could operate within the limits of its permit as long as there was no rain to increase the water flow. He was adamant about the fact that the facility will need to be expanded to meet the growing water and sewer demands.
“We need expansion to accomodate further growth,” he said. “As Jackson County grows, we’re going to have to grow along with it.
Built in 1975, the plant was operated by Jackson County prior to TWSA’s 1992 establishment. Officials with the county and the towns of Sylva, Dillsboro and Webster, facing a 1993 deadline to conform with the Safe Drinking Water Act, came together to form the authority, making its first priority the construction of a new water treatment plant, which was completed in 1996 on the Tuckaseigee River in Cullowhee.
Along with the plant on North River Road, TWSA operates wastewater treatment plants in Sylva and Cashiers.
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