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LITTLEFIELD — A temporary solution will put
Ayden and Winterville back on the map for growth as the moratorium
placed recently is now superseded by a Special Order of Consent
(SOC).
A consensus was reached during a meeting held on June 17 between
representatives of Ayden, Winterville, the Wooten Company, CMSD as
well as the Division of Water Quality to allow future connections to
tap into the towns' sewer service.
A moratorium was placed on the towns of Ayden and Winterville by the
North Carolina Division of Water Quality after the Highway 11 pump
station experienced numerous sewerage spills after heavy rainfall.
The Town of Ayden has been working diligently for five years to get
grant money to replace the aging sewer lines and had been given the
go-ahead to begin the project in March. However, the moratorium
threatened to stop all future sewer connections for both of the
growing towns.
The (SOC) will be put into effect from July 5, 2004 until November
30, 2005, according to a memo sent to Winterville's Board of
Aldermen by Town Manager Bill Whisnant.
The SOC is an agreement between the CMSD entered into with DWQ
agreeing that they will fix problems relating to CMSD including
distribution lines, pumps at various locations, including the
Highway 11 pump station.
The memo stated that "we anticipate that CMSD and the Washington DWQ
staff will execute the SOC prior to the July 5, 2004 moratorium
effective date."
The principal terms of the proposed SOC, according to the Whisnant,
are as follows:
* The SOC will be in effect from July 5, 2004 until November 30,
2006.
* All projects with building permits as of July 2, 2004 can connect
to the municipal collection systems without regard to the additional
flow allocations to be included in the SOC.
* All projects receiving building permits while the SOC is in effect
may receive sewer service, subject to the availability of additional
flow allocations which will be based on the progress milestones
achieved in the CMSD system improvement plan.
* DWQ staff agreed to reduce previously levied fines from $82,875.00
to a reduced amount of $24,300.00.
According to Adam Mitchell, Ayden’s Town Manager, an auxiliary pump
was put in this week, which Mitchell says was required to make the
moratorium go away. The pump will temporarily bypass the pump
station and prevent spills. However, in the future, the auxiliary
pump will be put up for emergency bypasses only.
Mitchell said the SOC will supersede the moratorium and make it go
away. However, if the CMSD does not complete all the tasks in the
time frame agreed, the moratorium may threaten the towns again. The
CMSD says that the problems will be fixed in the next two years.
"We’ve got a plan to get this thing fixed in a two-year time period
max," Mitchell said.
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