$5.9 million sewer project set to begin on Big Cove

By Rose Hooper

Cherokee Principal Chief Leon Jones, seated, signs a contract with Buckeye Construction owner George Mease, left, and Shane Herbert, project manager, for the $5.9 million Big Cove sewer service project. - Herald photo by Rose Hooper

Funding for the project comes from the Environmental Protection Agency, Indian Health Services, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the tribe.

"This project certainly demonstrates the tribe"s commitment to the environment,"Principal Chief Leon Jones said Friday, Feb. 16, as he signed the construction contract with Buckeye Construction of Canton.

Work on the 24-month project is expected to get under way March 5, said Buckeye owner Gary Mease.

Septic systems of individual property owners and commercial campground wastewater treatment plants will be eliminated, said Calvin Murphy, director of tribal utilities.

"The 73,000-feet of sanitary sewer lines will get rid of any septic tank seepage in the area and make Raven Fork a cleaner, healthier river,"Jones said of the prong that joins the Oconaluftee River.

Because Big Cove Road is a "one way in, one way out road, according to Murphy, Tribal Utilities is working with Tribal Council and the construction company to install the new lines with the least possible inconvenience to those who travel the road.

"We're setting up a schedule so homeowners will know exactly when we will be at their place,"Murphy said.

Although no pavement will have to be disturbed, the lines will cross the river 10 times. An advantage of this new system, Murphy said, is that it is completely gravity flow and no pump stations have to be installed.

If a land exchange occurs between the tribe and the National Park Service and the Cherokee school system is built in the Big Cove area, the sewer project is large enough to serve those needs, too, Jones said.

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