Moratorium

AYDEN  — The Towns of Ayden and Winterville both received notification of a sewer moratorium from the Division of Water Quality on May 17, 2004.

The letter, from Jim Mulligan, WaRO Regional Supervisor in Washington, N.C., said the sewer moratorium will go into effect on July 5, 2004, and remain in effect until the Contentnea Metropolitan Sewerage District (CMSD) “...has sufficiently demonstrated that the highway 11 Pump Station can adequately handle all flows from the Towns of Ayden and Winterville...” and the towns have obtained written permission from the Division of Water Quality suspending the moratorium.

The action is prompted by the CMSD’s twelve discharges over the past twelve months totaling 943,000 gallons of untreated waste from the Highway 11 Pump Station. Both towns wastewater flows through the pump station. That is why the two towns are being tagged with the moratorium.

The moratorium means that additional sewer connections, after July 5, 2004, will not be allowed. That will effectively stop building in the two towns.

Officials from Ayden, Grifton and Winterville met with Mulligan on Monday afternoon in an effort to work out a way to waive the moratorium for up to 90 days. Reports indicate that the group was not successful but that the Division of Water Quality would take a look after 45 days if it can be shown that there can be a temporary solution to the spills at the N.C. 11 pump station.

Winterville Town Manager Bill Whisnant indicated that it seems that the Division of Water Quality wants to see some action on getting the pump station on N.C. 11 handling the flow. The flow is aggravated because of the deterioration of about 2 miles  of concrete line underground on the west side of N.C. 11.

He said to cure the issue will require engineering, permitting and building to replace the concrete pipe. All that will take time. Whisnant said there may be a temporary solution in using an overflow pump at the station in question.

The CMSD has proposed a $4.7 million plan to replace the line as well as do other upgrades to an aging plant. The CMSD has sought grant and loan funds and will have no choice but to tax Ayden, Grifton and Winterville citizens through fees in order to do the work that is necessary.

Both Ayden and Grifton are required by law to give the public notice that a moratorium will be placed on the discharge of additional waste to their respective collection system within 15 days of the receipt of the letter.

The action came as a shock to officials of all three towns. In April, Floyd Chambliss with The Wooten Company, the CMSD’s engineering firm, briefed the towns about entering a negotiation period for a special order of consent (SOC) in an effort to stop fines that are associated with the sewerage spills and allow the agency to do its planned work. Chambliss said a moratorium could be placed on sewer permitting but indicated that he felt once negotiations began enforcement actions would stop. He also indicated that flows may be set in the three municipalities during the negotiations process.

When Mulligan’s letter reached the Ayden and Winterville mayors, it was evident they were not expecting an immediate moratorium.

Ayden Mayor Steve Tripp said, “I was surprised when I got the letter stating there was a moratorium.”

The Ayden Mayor pointed out, “We started back in April with the SOC process. We followed the steps recommended by DENR.”

Tripp said Ayden, too, is concerned for the public safety as it relates to the spill but that work actually began as far back as February in an effort to come up with a long term fix for the sewer spills. “We’re trying to expediate it as fast as we can,” Tripp said.

Tripp indicated that the CMSD engineer has said there may be a temporary fix that will lift the moratorium. That fix, however, will have to be approved by DENR if the moratorium is lifted.

“It is unfortunate that we do have a moratorium,” Tripp said. “But we’re doing all we can go get it lifted and the problem rsolved. We will resolve it and we will resolve it as quickly as we can and for the public’s safety.” 

Mulligan’s ruling may be appealed to Raleigh. Local officials are reviewing the appeals process to see if it can be utilized.

Copyright 2003 - Town of Grifton - All Rights Reserved