Eureka decides on installation of new sewer line
By Sam Atkins
Published in News on May 7, 2004 1:59 PM
EUREKA -- The town board decided Thursday to have a new sewer line installed to its lagoons that can be used as needed.
This decision came after several months of trying to determine why the town is receiving abnormally high sewer bills from Fremont. The bills indicated a high amount of wastewater being pumped from Eureka's sewer system to Fremont.
Ray Lancaster, former Eureka commissioner, has been testing the meters and has made several reports to the board. Somehow Fremont is still showing that the town is pumping three times more gallons than it actually is, he said.
The town received a quarterly total bill for $22,787.83 and Lancaster said that may be the lowest bill it would get all year. Multiplying that total by four and adding internal expenses would result in a cost of around $100,000 for the year, which is as much as the town's entire budget.
"It's too much money for the town to be forking out," added Lancaster.
Mayor Randy Bass said that another problem is the increase in rainfall that has infiltrated the system. The infiltration has caused the flow meters to indicate that the town is pumping six to seven times more gallons of wastewater to Fremont than it should be, he said.
There has been a discussion with Fremont and it agreed that Eureka would be charged according to what it thinks it is pumping. If they cannot determine what is wrong, it will have to pay the rest, said Bass.
The board has sent a letter asking Mike Acquesta, town engineer, to install the new sewer line to divert the wastewater to the town's existing sewer lagoons. Al Hodge with the N.C. Division of Water Quality has authorized the town to do it. The two-valved line will allow the town to divert wastewater to its existing lagoons and to discharge into the Fremont conveyance line.
After it is installed, the town will have to get final approval from Hodge. Lancaster does not expect the materials for the line to cost much.
"The town has no intentions of diverting wastewater to the lagoons unless the state approves it," he said.