05-21-08: State considers fining Manteo over sewer spills

(c) 2008 The Virginian Pilot

By Catherine Kozak, Staff Writer

MANTEO -- In the latest troubles with Manteo's wastewater treatment plant, the state has notified town officials in a letter received Tuesday that it is considering enforcement action for improperly reported violations going back two years.

Violations included overflows on four different occasions at pump stations during March, April and June of 2006, according to the May 16 letter from the state Division of Water Quality to Town Manager Kermit Skinner.

There were also three overflows reported at the wastewater treatment facility, the notice said.

The town is required to respond within five days of receipt of the notice. After a review, the division will determine whether to proceed with an enforcement action.

Under state law, discharge of wastewater without a valid permit can subject violators to civil penalties of up to $25,000 per violation. The state has issued 159 violations to the town and fined it a total of $35,000 since 2004.

Skinner said Wednesday that the problems that caused the violations have since been addressed by more than $900,000 in repairs and replacements of parts of the wastewater treatment system.

"What they're talking about is that when they occurred, they weren't reported the day of the occurrence," he said.

Town Utilities Superintendent Nathan Pharr had reported the violations to the state in an April 24 letter that explained that the town believed at the time that the overflows at the lift stations did not require reporting under the state rules.

Pharr also said that until earlier this year, the town had lacked methods to record such events and had no guidelines to report issues like sanitary sewer overflows. But since a compliance inspection in February, Pharr wrote, "we now have a better system in place to properly report SSOs of any size and duration and we will continue to properly report these in the future."

In February, the federal Environmental Protection Agency notified the town that it had violated the wastewater treatment plant permit effluent limits on levels of biochemical oxygen demand, fecal coliform, pH, dissolved oxygen and residual chlorine.

The town was told to explain the violations and how it planned to correct them. The EPA, which put the facility on its Enforcement Watch List, is coordinating with the state to "ensure that timely and appropriate enforcement action is taken and compliance... is achieved," the notice said.

The state Division of Water Quality is continuing an investigation into additional possible violations at the plant, spokeswoman Susan Massengale said Wednesday.

Skinner said that from his conversation with the EPA, he understands that the only way to be removed from the list is to be without any violations for an unspecified period of time. The town, he said, has been working closely with the water quality division office in Washington, N.C.

"We haven't had any inspections from the EPA," he said. "We're in contact with Little Washington trying to get their assistance in getting the plant to function consistently."

Improvements at the plant are expected to alleviate the issues that created the violations, which he said have mostly been improper levels of chlorine and pH, not fecal coliform.

"Of course, our goal is zero," Skinner said.

Catherine Kozak, (252) 441-1711, cate.kozak@pilotonline.com