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Cedar Creek plant on-line, lagoon being flushed, filled
BY CHARLES GARRATT • STAFF WRITER
 | | For decades this lagoon has been the only treatment for wastewater from the Village at Cedar Creek (previously known as Bath County Trailer Park). Virginia's Department of Environmental quality placed a portion of the Jackson River on the impaired waters list because of storm water runoff from the lagoon occasionally reaching the river. Cedar Creek Associates is working under DEQ guidance to pump the liquid from the lagoon to the new wastewater treatment plant. The remaining sludge will then be stabilized with clay, the lagoon capped and converted to a recreation area. (Recorder photo by Charles Garratt) |
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WARM SPRINGS - After months of delay waiting for laboratory glassware, the Cedar Creek waste water treatment plant began processing sewage July 9 and the county expects to receive a license for the facility in coming weeks.
The new plant, owned by the county and operated by the Public Service Authority, replaces an aging lagoon treatment system. The lagoon has been cited by the Department of Environmental Quality as inadequate and has also been listed as the cause for placing a stretch of the Jackson River on the impaired waters list.
 | | The new wastewater treatment plant just south of the Village at Cedar Creek began accepting wastewater July 9. The new plant is owned by Bath County and is operated by the Public Service Authority. The county is working with the engineers to reduce the noise from three air intakes (inset). The normally quiet plant can be heard some distance away when equipment inside the building runs periodically creating vibrations through the air intakes. (Recorder photo by Charles Garratt) |
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Paul Skilleter of Cedar Creek Associates, LLC, said the company is currently pumping the liquid from the lagoon to the new treatment plant. "It's a priority," Skilleter said about cleaning up and closing the lagoon.
The process is slow, he said, because the plant can only take a certain amount each day. Cedar Creek just purchased a smaller pump to avoid overwhelming the plant.
Cedar Creek is working under the guidance of DEQ. Cedar Creek was required to file a closure plan for the lagoon with the agency. Skilleter expects to convert the sometimes smelly liability into "a great asset" for the community.
Once the liquid is removed, the remaining sludge will be allowed to dry and then will be mixed with clay to stabilize it, Skilleter explained. An impermeable cap of clay and soil will be placed over the sludge, creating a level area suitable for a playground or a ball field.
The new treatment plant was paid for in part by the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development under an innovative grant proposal developed by Bath County to resolve the sewage treatment problems of the neighborhood and help establish affordable housing in that part of the county.
The property, known at the time of the grant application as the Bath County trailer park, was purchased by Cedar Creek Associates and renamed the Village at Cedar Creek.
The county has been working with DEQ the past couple of months to obtain a permanent operating license for the plant. The current license is set to expire at the end of September, according to County Attorney Mike Collins. Collins has been handling contract and permit negotiations for the Cedar Creek wastewater treatment plant.
DEQ and the county planned to advertise the transfer of the license from Cedar Creek to the county at the first of September. But then Collins realized the county would be liable for the lagoon if the license was transferred as currently written.
Cedar Creek supervisor Buzz Nowlin said the county asked DEQ to pull the request for transfer. Nowlin noted cleaning up the lagoon is "going to take a long time" and even though Cedar Creek would be contractually obligated to finish the clean up, Nowlin said the county did not want to be liable to DEQ for the lagoon.
At the supervisors' meeting last week, Collins said DEQ had agreed to keep the current license to Cedar Creek to cover the lagoon and issue a new license to the county for the plant. Collins said DEQ wants the plant operating and the lagoon closed and is willing to do what is necessary to help the county.
Collins told the board DEQ was going to issue the new license without charging a fee, saving the county an expected $6,000 for the license transfer.
There are still a couple of issues to be resolved with the plant and collection system for the Village. One is a noise issue relating to the equipment in the new plant.
A couple of neighbors have complained about noise when equipment within the plant building comes on periodically, said Nowlin. Three air intakes go through the block wall on the west end of the building and when the equipment operates, a loud vibration-like noise comes from the intakes and the block wall.
Nowlin said the county is working with engineers to reduce the noise level. If the noise cannot be reduced by changes in the building and equipment, a wall or deflector will be built to channel the noise upward and away from the neighbors, Nowlin said.
The entire project won't be complete until the PSA takes over the main and lateral lines serving the village, said PSA director Gene "Bugs" Phillips. Cedar Creek is responsible for replacing the aging main lines and the lateral connections to the homes in the Village.
Skilleter said landscaping around the treatment plant and improvements to the roads in the Village are waiting until a new eight-inch sewer main is run through the park. He expects that to be done in the near future. Once the main is run, the PSA will take over the main line and new laterals as they are connected.
Eventually the PSA will be responsible for the new mains and laterals as well as the operation of the plant. PSA employees have been operating the plant under contract with Cedar Creek and will continue to do so until the county receives an operating license from DEQ.
Once the county has a license for the plant, PSA will operate the facility for the county. Neither Phillips nor Collins were sure if ownership of the plant would eventually be turned over to the PSA.
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