HomeMy WebLinkAboutC.054.93008_0909 (2)464
and that is we are Lying to provide the best system available.
And all of the other things which are coming to play in trying to provide this best
system, I think have been beneficial w the board as well asmyself in that we have brought
out a lot of things that we certainly couldn't have planned to discuss if we had been
writing a brand new set of ordinances from day 1.
We've been to different plants that are in operation now and doing an adequate job,
better than adequate, I minht add. Because we feel that these waste treatment plants are
in control of what goes into the environment, whereas septic tanks are a built-in time
bomb that are eventually going to fail. We have heard testimony to that fact. And when
they fail There is no operator around to correct the problem immediately, I mean within
two to three hours. The waste continues to bubble into the environment, and in some cases
it is not even found out for years. It goes through cracks and crevices; it can get into
the ground water supply. In many parts of the country there is a serious problem with
ground water supply because septic tanks were used.
All the questions of stand by power, (not clear) tanks, low measuring devices, they
are very technical, very encumbering questions. Everything that we plan to do with this
proposed plant is going to meet the requirements, whatever those requirements are. If we
can't meet the requirements, we'll go back to the septic tank system and use it until we
can afford to do something else. But my closing statement is that this is the best system
we could put in there, and I hope you can see your way clear to approve it.
MURDOCK: I have one more question, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Williams, you mentioned the
valve a little bit ago. Would it be very expensive to put one of those valves in the
water system as you did in the other place?
WILLILAMS: No, ma'am. No. You're talking about, it's relatively inexpensive com-
pared to (not clear). Maybe $150 (not clear) It sure beats a generator. Mr. Chairman,
if I may, you raised a questiou why was the generator shown on the plat. If I may just
take one second. When Mr. Lewis asked me to show these things or show the, on the plat,
so we could (not clear), I specifically asked him about some of the other original equip-
ment that we may have to supply, and I talked to the guy in Raleigh, the design review
people, and they said at this time they can't tell me whether they are going to require a
sludge holding facility. You would think it would be a uniform application when they look
at this one and when they look at that one, but it's not true. They look at each one. So
at this time, this is about two or three days ago, so I asked Mr. Lewis, and he said we
had better show everything. So that's why you've got almost everything I could think of
(not clear) on that map, and we may or may not use it, subject to as the flow measuring
device
HEDRICK: Thank you, Mr. Williams. Anyone else to speak in favor of the issue?
STEWART: Mr. Chairman, I was going to say the best I can remember from the facili-
ties that we toured when we were in Orange County, all of those were not installed in
exactly the same manner and did not have all of these same things you have here. Each one
of these facilities was designed specifically for whatever the need was for that particu-
lar area. And I would imagine this is similar when NRCD gives you your permit, different
requirements are named for different facilities. Is that correct?
WILLIAM: That's correct, yes.
HEDRICK: Tony, did you want to comment?
TONY (not clear): With Bio -Chem Laboratories. This may or may not help. I would say
in a half a dozen surrounding counties, there is something like fifty treatment plants
other than municipal systems which may be treating millions of gallons a day for maybe a
highly industrialized type plant that still may be treating 150 to maybe a quarter of a
million gallons of waste per day. You will see at those type plants emergency generators.
Normal system, which is gravity flow, the water comes in; it goes out, technically. There
is a period of time there if your power was completely off, as a matter of fact, the
effluent from that plant would improve for a period, I would say, of twelve to eighteen
hours, simply because you are not necessarily pumping in or pumping out. You have created
an environment there, you have been growing bacteria for several months or whatever. That
bacteria is still alive. It's still treating the waste, it's not treating it 99.9%. But
the point is you reach a period of time when the plant will begin to not function, but
that period of time is generally after 48 hours. It is very uncommon, and I'm sure this
is why NRCD does no. require in a small application because of the expense just simply
overrides the necessity. There is that period of time, like I said, when the plant, when
there's no, when you have nothing running at all, the bacteria is still breeding there,
growing and eating up the waste that's coming in, and treating it. What I'm saying is
also that you have one big portion of a plant like this, you have all your bacteria that
is growing and being all stirred up. In other areas you have that bacteria going into a
quiet zone which settles out. You don't leave that bacteria there, just settled out in the
tank, (not clear) turning back. Actually when you are returning it, you are producing a
worse effluent than while you are, the plant is actually down. But you can't continue to
leave it down because it will at some point in time become septic with no oxygen there
0