City and county agencies will likely never admit that large sewage spills from overburdened infrastructure are a real problem in Mecklenburg County. And they’ll probably never publicly admit that the state regulators have allowed the county’s biggest raw sewage polluter, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Utilities (CMU), to repeatedly foul the county’s waters without penalty on their watch.
But to their credit, it appears they have quietly begun to at least study the issue since an April 10 Creative Loafing article on the subject blew the proverbial sewage out of the water. The article, for which CL has taken a lot of heat in bureaucratic circles, documented how CMU was not fined by NCDENR — the agency that is supposed to enforce state guidelines governing sewage spills — for a single one of its 815 spills over a three-year period, even when large sewage spills from CMU infrastructure had run through subdivisions, backyards and parks, places where children could and likely have come in contact with the water.
Part of the problem, CL reported, was that the law does not require more than a small, printed public notice published in newspapers to inform people who live or recreate along these bodies of water that a spill over 15,000 gallons has occurred. But now it looks like that may change. CMU spokesperson Vic Simpson says that his agency is exploring new and better ways to communicate with those potentially affected by sewage spills. As suggested by CL, CMU officials are looking into duplicating a Buncombe County program in which door hangers are placed on residences along creeks, streams and rivers affected by sewage spills. A second set of door hangers lets residents know when the water is safe again.
“We need to do some more checking around and see what might be done or if there are any other communications that might work,” said Simpson.
In the meantime, County Commissioner Tom Cox has requested that County Manager Harry Jones inform the commission at their weekly meetings of any sewage spills that have occurred, and discuss them. Because the meetings are televised on the Government Channel, this should help further publicize the location and severity of the spills. Although the county doesn’t oversee CMU, which operates under the city’s umbrella, a county department called the Mecklenburg County Water Quality Program (MCWQP) is directed by the state to investigate and contain situations involving potential contamination of ground and surface waters. Mecklenburg County is one of only two counties in the state that has delegated powers to investigate sewage spills.
County Commissioner Bill James says he supports the door hangers and public notice of sewage spills at commission meetings, but that he’d like to see the county do more than that.
“I’m more interested in figuring out if CMU is going to put enough money into fixing the pump stations,” says James. “The problem, it seems, is that CMU doesn’t want to put the capital into rebuilding these stations.”
James says he also wants to explore anecdotal evidence that the owners of many homes on septic tanks are still draining them directly into the county’s waters. *
This article appears in Jun 5-11, 2002.
