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SPILLS OVERFLOW EDEN PUMP STATION

2-20-00

By ALEX DE GRAND, Staff Writer News & Record

EDEN -- Two wastewater spills at at the city's Meadow Greens pump station off Edgewood Road last weekend poured more than 60,000 gallons of untreated wastewater into the Dan River and highlighted the city's problems with an aging system.

City officials speculate that pipes a half-century old may exist among the 130 miles of sewers that underlie the streets of Eden. About 80 percent of all the city's sewer pipes is made of terra cotta, Benny Sexton, public works director, said.

Cracks in the terra-cotta pipes may have allowed rain water to enter the system and overwhelm the capacity of the Meadow Greens station to treat the water. Under normal conditions, the pump station can handle the flow, Sexton said.

Terra cotta pipes crack for many reasons, including growing tree roots that puncture the lines.

Sexton said the city began using ductile iron pipes about 20 years ago. Ductile iron does not crack as easily as terra cotta.

City Manager Radford Thomas said work is ongoing to replace terra-cotta pipes with iron. Last year, the city replaced about 1,200 feet of terra-cotta pipes behind the Spray Cotton Mill along the Smith River, he said. Also last year, the city undertook two projects in the northern part of town around Tackett Branch Creek.

The amount of money spent on these sewer projects varies according to how much is allocated in each municipal budget, Thomas said. The project near the Spray Cotton Mill cost about $360,000, and the other two projects carried a combined price tag of $25,000.

Iron pipes do have drawbacks.

Ray Sharp, city finance director, reported iron pipes are more expensive than terra cotta. A foot of 12-inch iron pipe costs $11.95, compared with a similarly sized piece of terra-cotta pipe, which costs $6.50. Sharp said the city does not buy any terra-cotta pipes anymore.

Steve Mauney, an environmental engineer with the state Division of Water Quality, said iron pipes are not a guarantee against sewer problems.

"Ductile is an option, but I can't say its a panacea," he said.

City sewers can have spills for other reasons. Congealed grease can block a line whether it is iron or terra cotta. Mauney said other debris can also block a line: "I've seen a basketball stopping up a line."

City officials said the spills at Meadow Greens pump station are regrettable but difficult to prevent. State regulators share that opinion.

Larry Coble, the state water-quality supervisor whose district includes Rockingham County, said no fines or other regulatory actions are pending against Eden.

A good-faith effort to comply with the law and prevent spills counts in the favor of wastewater treatment operators. Eden is credited with doing these things, state officials said.

"We look at their overall responsiveness," Mauney said.

Mauney said the state also takes into account whether spills were accidental when considering action against a system operator.

The rain that caused Eden's pump station to fail also caused spills in Winston-Salem, Greensboro and High Point, Mauney said.

"It's a pretty common occurrence for overflow during high rain events," Mauney said.

City officials said the Feb. 12 and Feb. 13 spills are not a threat to Eden's water customers. David Russell, a state environmental specialist who inspects treatment systems in Rockingham County, said no damage such as a fish kill was reported after the spills.

"The impact of a spill is site-specific," Mauney said. "The amount of dilution and the atmospheric conditions play a part. Right now, the streams have more oxygen. With warmer weather, there is less oxygen. ... Water's capacity to hold oxygen is greatly determined by temperature."

Decomposing sewage draws oxygen out of the water, Mauney said, so it is important to have enough of it in the stream to handle the spill. He added the Dan River is a large body of water that can handle the amount of spills that have occurred from the Eden system. LINK

-- Dee (T1Colt556@aol.com), February 23, 2000