“That was the site and now it is completely out,” Tucker County Commission President Mike Rosenau said.
By: Lydia Crawley
The Parsons Advocate
The Blackwater PSD stated at their meeting May 21st, that Douglas Falls has been eliminated as a potential site for the new sewage treatment plant. At the meeting, the board also stated that the search has been narrowed down to four sites, of which one will eventually be selected for construction of the new treatment plant. “That was the site and now it is completely out,” Tucker County Commission President Mike Rosenau said.
The meeting was conducted by two of the three board members: Davis Mayor Al Tomson and Judy Cronauer. Board Member and Thomas Mayor Jody Flanagan was absent from the meeting. Executive Director Shane Whitehair and Project Specialist Lisa Karickhoff represented Region VII at the meeting. In the audience were Tucker County Commission President Mike Rosenau and Tucker County Commissioner Fred Davis.
When asked by Commissioner Davis about the decision, Tomson said that while he had no specific details, several factors went into the decision to eliminate Douglas Falls as a site. “I don’t have the details on why its out,” Tomson said. “I know that we talked in the past about Douglas Falls, the size of the land that’s available is problematic and where it discharges into the North Fork is also a challenge. To have it further up where Thomas is, is beneficial because you get more aeration, you get more drop.”
According to Tomson, RK&K are currently exploring options for the treatment plant and has narrowed the search for a site to four locations, eliminating Douglas Falls from consideration for a site. “The collection as far as to where we consider locating the treatment plant, there are four options right now that are being considered,” Tomson said.
The four locations, according to Tomson, currently under consideration are: the old tannery site in Davis which would discharge into the Blackwater River, the tannery location in Davis which would discharge into the North Fork, across from the landfill on Western Pocahontas property and the existing plant in Thomas. “Those are the four that are being considered,” Tomson said.
According to Tomson, several factors will be explored when considering the individual sites. Considerations such as environmental impact and regulations, the costs associated with pumping and the various factors associated with leachate from the landfill were all mentioned by Tomson. “They are going to look at them from a standpoint of the issues with discharge, the rivers that you are going to be dumping into and the requirements that the EPA and the DEP have for those rivers,” Tomson said. “As well as, pumping costs and all those kinds of things and then we have the factor of the leachate from the landfill, hard to pump, trucking’s a pain. So that will be another factor that gets put into the equation.”
Rosenau said he liked the idea of placing the plant where the existing Thomas plant is, as well as its lack of visibility from the main roads. Tomson said he favored the site across from the landfill due to the “quasi-industrial” nature of the site and the issues with leachate. Rosenau expressed concern on the site due to not only visibility from a main thoroughfare. Davis expressed concerns with the site due to the construction of the proposed hiking and bicycle trail to be constructed parallel to Route 32.
Tomson said that a final determination will not be made until after viewing the preliminary engineering report and a public comment period. “We’ll see,” Tomson said. “We will get those options. They will have cost analysis, they’ll have engineering pros and cons and they’ll make recommendations on what they think from their standpoint is the best and then we will look at it from a public standpoint, too.”
Tomson said that currently, RK&K are engaged in extensive data collection. A preliminary report, Tomson said, was expected to be completed in July. The data collection, according to Tomson, is geared at anticipating future growth in the area and allowing the plant to be expanded in the future. Whitehair said that the design is anticipated to allow for future growth without being over-sized during the initial build. According to Whitehair, the design is seeking to find a balance between having an over-sized plant that would be inefficient and having an undersized plant. “They are doing a lot of data collection,” Tomson said. “And a lot of it is looking down the road 10, 15, 20 years so we don’t have to revisit this for a while. It will make sure that the plant, if it needs to expand, has expansion capabilities.”
In other business, the board voted to approve the hiring of legal and accounting services. Bennett Dobbins was awarded the accounting contract in the amount of $55,000 for the PSD and Steptoe and Johnson received the legal contract of $50,000. “I’m excited to have those guys working on this,” Tomson said.
Also discussed were two proposals for bond council for the PSD. The proposals from Jackson Kelley and Steptoe and Johnson were considered by the board with no decisions made at the meeting and action on the issue to be undertaken at the next meeting.
The next meeting of the Blackwater PSD is scheduled for Tuesday, June 18th at 10 a.m. at the Davis Town Hall in Davis.