Mecklenburg sounds off 

Page 6 of 9

5. MRO will make final decisions concerning any enforcement action/case and coordinate, when necessary, with MCDEP.

CL response: Read the above for yourself and decide. CL isn't sure how much more clearly the agreement can say that MCWQP is responsible for "collecting necessary evidence for legal action against the spillers and forwarding it to the state," as the article stated. What MCWQP's issue with this section of the article was is unclear.

* Creative Loafing Article:

"After our interviews with Rozzelle and other enforcement officials, CL remained uncertain what, if any, purpose the county department serves when it comes to monitoring spills." Page 28 - Column 2 - Paragraph 1

MCWQP Response:

MCWQP's role in monitoring and assessing spills is as follows:

1. Locate the source of the spill through water sampling, citizen complaints or visual observations.

2. Post all downstream swimming areas and notify the public of the posting.

3. Determine who is responsible for the spill.

4. Inform the responsible party of the regulatory requirements for spill cleanup and reporting.

5. Ensure that the discharge is immediately ceased.

6. Assess the condition of the impacted surface water. This may include water quality field measurements or laboratory analysis.

7. Ensure that the spill is properly cleaned up and the stream is restored to the extent possible.

8. Compile all relative information for consideration by State officials.

9. Proceed with instructions by the state.

CL response: The "what purpose they serve" phrase is meant in an ironic sense. CL is well aware of what the department actually does, as we have spent seven months reading its reports. Tracking the existence of the spills without punishing the spillers is a waste of time. What purpose this futile activity serves is what puzzles us.

* Creative Loafing Article:

"It's official: playing in raw sewage is OK for kids"

"County health officials, county environmental staff, and utility representatives tell CL that the seriousness of the situation isn't what it would appear. Sewage spills aren't as dangerous to the public as they may seem, they say." Page 29 - Column 3 - Paragraph 2

MCWQP Response:

The statement implying that "county environmental staff" told Creative Loafing that it's OK for kids to play in raw sewage is absolutely ludicrous. No one at the MCWQP was even asked this question. This statement is simply not true.

CL response: The article made no claim that "county environmental staff" told CL that it's OK for kids to play in raw sewage. That quote came from Dr. Stephen Keener of the county health department, and was attributed to him, not county environmental staff, in the article. "It's official: playing in raw sewage is OK for kids" was the subheadline for that section of the article. A subheadline (or subhed) is like a mini-title for the entire section that follows it. The subhead previewed Dr. Keener's quote, but in no way implied that county staff was even asked about raw sewage. Perhaps the problem here is an unfamiliarity with how newspaper and magazine articles are often structured. It should be noted, however, that every county, state and CMU official CL asked about the danger level of a sewage-filled creek emphasized that a moving, sewage-filled creek isn't as dangerous as it may seem.

* Creative Loafing Article:

"Of course, say experts, just how dangerous the water is depends on how much pathogenic material is likely to be concentrated in it, and the only indicator for that is a fecal test, which CMU and MCWQP rarely have been known to perform after a spill." Page 30 - Column 2 - Paragraph 3

MCWQP Response:

Again, the MCWQP will collect any water samples the state requests for an enforcement case if the state wishes to pursue enforcement based on their criteria. Otherwise, the MCWQP does not need a fecal coliform bacteria sample to determine that a stream may contain pathogens. If you visually observe sewage in a stream, it doesn't matter if 5 gallons or 5,000 gallons were spilled, the stream may contain pathogens and is not suitable for human contact. A bacterial analysis is not needed to make this determination.

CL response: The fecal test issue was addressed above.

* Creative Loafing Article:

"The haphazard way in which decisions are made about whether to test water after spills is demonstrated by a November 1999 case. After a bubbler system failure at the McDowell Creek wastewater treatment plant, a mechanical switching system failed to turn on an alarm. The result was a 159,000-gallon spill into Clark's Creek off Ramah Church Road. The creek winds through several subdivisions and residential areas. According to MCWQP's own reports, the environmental hygienist who investigated the spill observed that the sewage-filled creek was milky and turbid in appearance eight miles away from the spill where the creek crosses Huntersville-Concord Road, and 20 miles away at Eastfield Road." Page 30 - Column 2 - Paragraph 4