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TWSA adds sewage capacity; accepts bid for Racking Cove line
By Justin Goble
With sewer capacity once again available, members of the Tuckaseigee Water and Sewer Authority revised their allocation policy during their March 18 meeting.
The authority recently received another 350,000 gallons per day of capacity at its North River Road treatment plant, thus ending the current moratorium on allocations. According to TWSA Director Joe Cline, state officials last week signed a revised special order of consent for TWSA’s main wastewater treatment plant that allows it to operate at its full daily capacity – 1.5 million gallons.
TWSA’s allocations were capped because the plant was operating under a SOC that was negotiated with state officials in 2005. That agreement stipulates how much sewage the plant can treat on a daily basis and was necessitated after plant discharges were found to be releasing more bacteria and suspended solids into the Tuckaseigee River than state water quality standards allow.
Before the SOC, Cline said the plant handled around 950,000 gallons of sewage each day. Working under the new agreement that sets forth a schedule of plant improvements, the authority was granted an additional 250,000 gallons per day while the plant is expanded and improved, which is expected to be completed in 2011, Cline said.
To maintain sewer availability until renovations are completed, officials will allot 115,000 gpd capacity per year for the next three years. That capacity will be spread out over four categories:
12,000 gpd for single-family homes with failing systems;
24,000 gpd for new single-family homes;
10,000 gpd for government buildings;
69,000 gpd for multi-family and commercial buildings.
At the end of each year, Cline said any of that year’s 115,000 gpd capacity that remained would be rolled over to the next year.
While TWSA will make allocations in each category on a first come, first served basis, Cline said he thought there would be enough sewer capacity to cover needs for the next three years.
“Of course there will be a rush at first, since some people have been put on hold because of the moratorium,” he said. “But if people come to us with projects they’re committed to and don’t do speculative buying, we should be fine.”
That was a problem under the old policy, where all of the sewer capacity was sold on a first-come, first-served basis. Though the changes do not totally prohibit people from speculative buying, Cline said TWSA’s new capacity assurance charges would make doing so more expensive.
“Under our old policy, people had to pay a minimum monthly bill to get capacity assurance,” Cline said. “So no matter how big the project was, they would pay $16.50 a month for water and $16.50 a month for sewer. They could sit on a lot of water and sewer for $33 a month. Now we do capacity assurance charges by the gallon. So for the first 2,500 gallons, we charge the same $33 a month. But for every 1,000 gallons after that, we charge an additional $2.25 for water and $2.25 for sewer.”
For projects 5,000 square feet and smaller, customers will have 120 days to hook onto TWSA’s system before having to pay a capacity assurance charge. For larger projects, Cline said developers will have up to a year before they have to pay for capacity assurance.
TWSA will begin accepting applications Tuesday, April 1. For more information, call 586-5189 or see the authority’s ad elsewhere in this week’s paper.
In other business March 18, TWSA members unanimously accepted a bid of $638,526 from Stillwell Enterprises of Sylva to extend a water line into the Racking Cove area.
Water wells in the area have been contaminated with benzene since last February. According to resident Bonita Fox, the problem started when she and neighbors deepened the well that serves their homes to get more water capacity. The well in question serves four households.
Jan Andersen, regional supervisor of Waste Management’s Underground Storage Tank Corrective Action Branch, said her staff tested the water and found it contained benzene, ether and ethanol. All three compounds are found in gasoline.
Initial water samples taken by the state displayed benzene levels of 45 parts per billion, Andersen said. Officials tested it two more times, and it came back in the 20s and then in the teens.
The permitted level of benzene in drinking water is one part per billion, Andersen said, and even at that level there are health risks. At the current levels, Fox and other residents could not use the water for bathing, drinking or cooking. According to Andersen, it was determined that the gas came from an abandoned above-ground storage tank once used by an old gas station. Gasoline from the old tank seeped into the groundwater, she said.
Had the storage tanks been underground, Andersen said there are state and federal funds set aside to help people get clean water in case of contamination. Since these were above-ground tanks, Fox and local leaders had to request money from state officials.
The line is expected to run 9,600 feet from Steeple Road up to Racking Cove. Once constructed, it will serve additional houses in the area as well as the Morningstar assisted living facility.
Cline said construction of the line should be completed within the next four months.
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