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EDC endorses new sewer treatment plant for Whittier

By Rose Hooper
A new sewer treatment plant for the Whittier area received the endorsement of the Economic Development Commission of Jackson County Monday.

However, one member, Ron Stephens of Forest Hills, did not speak in favor of the project because he said he felt it "supported the gaming industry in Cherokee."

"You are only supporting a localized area (with this project), not economic development in the county as a whole," Stephens said.

A sewer treatment plant in Whittier would allow expansion of the Jackson Industrial Park, EDC Chairman Tom McClure countered.

"In addition, it will serve private homes in the Whittier area, and the Whittier Church of God Assembley is also interested," McClure said. The project would serve the tribe's new recreation park at Gateway, as well, he said.

The ideal location for the plant would be the current industrial park in Whittier because it already has a sewage discharge permit, McClure said.

While the EDC would be a partner in the project, the main player is the Whittier Sanitary District. That district, formed 15 years ago at the approval of Jackson and Swain counties, provides water to 90 metered customers in the area. While it operates its own water system, it does not provide sewer service.

Other partners joining in the project to provide sewer services are the Jackson County Board of Commissioners, the Cherokee Indian Reservation and Tuckaseigee Water and Sewer Authority.

At a projected cost of $3 million, the plant would handle 100,000 gallons of wastewater per day. EDC members agreed to help fund a $26,000 feasibility study by McGill Associates of Asheville. That feasibility study would determine the customers and their needs, plant location, flow, capacity and anticipated growth. Each partner is expected to pay $6,500 as its share of the study, which must be completed by September to qualify for grant assistance. The Qualla/U.S. 441 area is one of the areas predicted to expand by the greatest proportions in the coming years, according to a recently-completed 20-year study conducted by W.K. Dickson of Asheville for TWSA. Dickson's study recommends a new wastewater treatment facility in the Gateway area of Qualla to provide wastewater treatment for the northern end of the county.

Dickson's study said such a facility would require the construction of 30-inch main interceptor from the existing 1.5-million-gallons-a-day Dillsboro plant to the Qualla facility. To convey wastewater by gravity to a new site in the Gateway area, a gravity line would have to closely follow the Tuckaseigee River.

"Given the topography of the region, the construction cost of such a gravity line, along with the cost of a new 3 million-gallons-a-day plant would be prohibitive," the study says. Therefore, the study concluded, it would be feasible to construct a .250-million-gallons-a-day wastewater treatment plant in the Gateway area to only serve the Whittier/Qualla area.

While the Whittier sewer proposal is not currently a TWSA project, Jerry King, TWSA director, said they are "one of the key players."

"If the Whittier system is built," King said, "TWSA may eventually take over its operation. Originally, talk was for the tribe to operate it since they have their own system.

"But now it looks like if the grant is awarded, the grant will be in Whittier Sanitary District's name, but the plant will eventaully be titled to TWSA."

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