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Name:
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HOTROD
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Subject:
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OUTLOOK ON POOP CONSPIRACY
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Date:
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12/4/2007 12:40:22 AM
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READ THE MAYOR'S WORDS AND READ WHAT SANDY CREEK WANTS. THEN TELL ME HOW THIS IS NOT A CONSPIRACY TO MOVE THE POOP PIPE TO THE MAIN BODY OF THE LAKE.
CLEANING UP SANDY CREEK TO THE DETRIMENT OF THE LAKE AT LARGE.
ITS A NIMBY DEAL.
Drought may have adverse effect on diluting waste water
By Patrick McCreless
For years now the Dadeville Wastewater Treatment Plant has utilized the Chattasofka Creek to dilute its waste discharges. But with the record drought affecting water flows throughout the state, concerns are being raised as to whether Dadeville's creek can still do its job.
Dick Bronson, president of Lake Watch, a group dedicated to the protection and enhancement of Lake Martin's water quality, appeared before the Dadeville City Council Tuesday to discuss the waste flow from the city's treatment plant.
"There are some concerns that changing weather patterns are affecting the flow of Chattasofka Creek," Bronson said. "Lake Watch has some concerns about the ability of Chattasofka Creek to handle the waste."
Chattasofka Creek flows into Sandy Creek, which immediately flows into Lake Martin.
Bronson backed up his statements with some preliminary data on the water flows of the creek. Lake Watch used special equipment borrowed from Auburn University to calculate the data earlier this month.
"The numbers, they're not good," Bronson said. "They're lower than I thought they'd be."
Under the city's current operating permit from the Alabama Department of Environmental Management, the treatment plant's waste discharges are calculated for water flows of 3.5 cubic feet per second. According to Lake Watch's preliminary findings, Chattasofka Creek's water flow is averaging less than 1 cubic per second each day.
"It's about 10 percent of what the permit the city is now operating under was written for," Bronson said.
On one particularly dry day of testing, Lake Watch discovered the creek had a flow of .25 cubic feet per second.
"That's saying the stream almost is not flowing at all," Bronson said.
With insufficient water flows, the treatment plant's waste discharges are not being properly diluted and are instead building up in the area's water system.
"What this is saying is ... how can you increase the capacity of the plant when the current capacity can't go into the streams," Bronson asked the council.
The city began developing plans to increase the capacity to the Dadeville plant several months ago after the Alabama Department of Environmental Management hit it with a consent order in March. The consent order cited several permit violations by the treatment plant and assessed a civil penalty of $6,500. The need to develop an upgrade plan was exacerbated when the office of Alabama Attorney General Troy King filed a civil lawsuit against Dadeville for multiple discharge violations including discharges of excess ammonia and fecal coliform.
The plan would be to expand the treatment plant's operating capacity from 425,000 gallons a day to 750,000 gallons a day.
The upgrades are estimated to cost $3.5 million.
Dadeville Mayor Joe Smith and the rest of the council agreed other options should be looked at besides increasing the plant's capacity in light of Lake Watch's measurements.
"We don't want to spend all this money and then not be able to use it (upgrades)," Smith said.
Bronson said Lake Watch would continue testing the creek as well as contact ADEM about the city's insufficient permit.
"We're not saying the city is not in compliance with the permit, we're saying the permit is not correct," Bronson said. "ADEM's standards are not tight enough."
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