CLIFTON FORGE – The $42,942,704 lower Jackson River Sewer treatment plant is tentatively scheduled to go on line May 24, 2011, according to Alleghany County Assistant Administrator Jon Lanford.
He said that weather and construction problems could delay the start-up date. The treatment plant is being built on the Dew Farm just south of Iron Gate.
Both Alleghany County and Clifton Forge have a “wet weather flow” in their sewer systems that has caused overflows, especially when it rains. When the rain gets into the sewer system, it causes excessive amounts of water to be processed at the Clifton Forge treatment plant and in 2011 it will be expensive for both localities to process the extra water.
The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality describes the extra water as “I&I,” inflow and infiltration into sewer lines. Some of the I&I problem is caused by lateral lines that run from homes across the property and into the municipally owned sewer lines.
Another problem of excessive water is caused by downspouts on houses that are connected to the sewer lines. Sump pumps that pump excessive water out of basements and are connected to the sewer lines cause much I&I problems. Both sump pumps and downspouts that flow into the sewer lines are illegal in Clifton Forge.
Virginia DEQ has issued Alleghany County a consent order, dated September 13, 2006, that requires Alleghany County to eliminate overflows caused by excessive infiltration and inflow no laterm than Dec. 31, 2010. Clifton Forge has been issued the same consent order, June 2006, that requires the town to also eliminate the overflows caused by excessive infiltration and inflow. The town’s deadline is also Dec. 31, 2010.
Both Alleghany County and Clifton Forge have been working on their infiltration and inflow problems but neither locality will meet the deadline. Lanford said the county is working on Selma, Cliftondale Park and Wesgate, where DEQ has placed the consent order, and the county has budgeted $70,000 for the work in those areas. He said if the county does not use the allotted amount, it will be carried over and used next year for the same infiltration and inflow problems. Lanford said the county has made much progress in working out the problems so far but infiltration and inflow problems are an ongoing process and no system will ever be completely leak proof.
Clifton Forge is believed to have the most problems with I&I for several reasons. One is that the lateral and sewer lines in the town are very old and tend to let tree roots and water get into the lines and cause excessive water to enter especially when it rains hard for several days. The Highlands had several days of rain two weeks ago, but not the hard rain and flooding that the Virginia Beach and Norfolk area had or even Roanoke and Danville.
The excessive amount of rain that Clifton Forge received amounted to 2.6 million gallons for the three days over the amount that would have normally gone through the Clifton Forge treatment plant. The rain water was stored in two tanks that are located near the treatment plant and has a capacity of storing 3.6 million gallons of water.
When an overage occurs, the Clifton Forge plant gradually feeds the excessive water through for treatment over a period of a few days.
The 2.6 million gallons of water is not so expensive now because Clifton Forge owns the plant, but it will be expensive to the town in 2011 when it starts to have their sewerage processed in Alleghany County’s new regional sewer plant.
Alleghany County has projected that the wholesale price to the town will be $2.77 per thousand gallons. Clifton Forge has not set a rate they will charge residents per month for sewer and they also have not set the number of gallons they will allow as a basic charge.
Alleghany County now charges $33 for 5,000 gallons of sewage, the same rate for water. Clifton Forge has begun to read the new water meters to let residents know how much they are using. The town has not set the number of gallons a customer can use before going over a set limit but has reported that beginning July 1, it will start charging per 1,000 gallons of metered water. Clifton Forge has not announced what they will charge for sewage or water when they start charging for water July 1.
Alleghany County now charges a uniform rate, no matter where you live in the county for water and sewer.
Clifton Forge will lose some revenue from Alleghany County when the new treatment plant is put on line.
The county is now paying the town about $140,000 per year for treating the county’s sewerage, which the town will not receive after 2011. This revenue has been down because of the closing of the Parker-Hannifin plant in Iron Gate.
However, one expense the town will not have to pay is $411,000 it is costing for Environmental Systems Service to manage the Clifton Forge treatment plant each year. Clifton Forge will have the most customers using the treatment plant. The town will have approximately 1,900 residents and Alleghany County will have around 600 using the plant.
Lanford said that when the new plant is finished, the county administration will recommend to the supervisors that at least for the first five years, the county hire a firm to operate the plant. He said that the new treatment plant will have many more tests that have to be done by qualified personnel and other regulations that must be followed.
Lanford said that all the personnel at the Clifton Forge Sewer Plan will probably be hired at the new sewer plant. Brian T. White is the plant manager for the Clifton Forge treatment plant and works for Environmental Systems Service (ESS) that manages the plant. Lanford said if a firm is engaged to operate the plant, the job will put to bid and the present company may or may not get the job.
White said that the present plant will be shut down and placed in mothballs for maybe future use after the new plant goes on line. The two holding tanks will still be used and the pump station will be used with new pumps added that will be placed beside the present pump station.
One official said that Clifton Forge residents have been using all the water they want and have never had to conserve water because they did not have meters. Now that the town has meters, the public will have to learn to conserve water or pay the price for higher bills when the rate is set.
Iron Gate Mayor Alan Williams said that the town was under the same consent order as Clifton Forge and Alleghany County but has been released. Williams said the town spent approximately $50,000 on I&I problems and continues to work on them.