December 13, 2005
By Wayne Crenshaw
TELEGRAPH STAFF WRITER
EASTMAN - The City Council voted Monday night to abandon
a plan to dispose of treated waste water through a land-spraying operation
and instead expand a sewage treatment plant.
The new plan involves closing a sewage treatment plant on James Avenue
and pumping the raw sewage to an expanded plant at Sugar Creek. With little
discussion, the council voted unanimously to rescind the spray-field proposal
and pursue the new option. About 40 people in attendance erupted in applause.
"I'm extremely pleased," said Sherry Jones, a leading spray-field
opponent, after the meeting adjourned. "It's going to cost less to
operate and maintain."
City Manager James Wright read a short statement prior to the vote
in which he said time was running out for obtaining federal funding
for updating sewage treatment.
"We are facing deadlines with the (Environmental Protection Division)
and also facing the fact that the funding we are seeking may well
be utilized in other parts of our country if we do not act decisively and
quickly," he
said.
After the meeting, Wright said a key reason for the change of direction
is the possibility that opponents of the spray-field plan could
seek a court injunction that would delay the project. If that had happened,
Wright
said, there was a good possibility that Gulf Coast communities
recovering
from Hurricane Katrina would snap up all the federal funding for
sewage treatment improvements.
The city developed the spray plan after the EPD ordered the city
to stop dumping treated sewage from its James Avenue plant into
Roach Branch, which flows into Gum Swamp Creek.
The EPD had determined that Gum Swamp Creek was oxygen depleted and
that the outflow from the plant contributed to the problem. Wright
said the EPD also told the city to either go with a spray-field
plan or give
a reason why it could not. Wright said the city is still going
to have to give the EPD an answer on that issue.
The spray-field proposal drew opposition from residents who lived
or owned property near the spraying area and were concerned about
odor and pollution. The environmental watchdog group Altamaha Riverkeepers
also
opposed the spray field.
The spray-field plan was estimated to cost $11 million, with $4
million of that coming from a U.S. Department of Agriculture
grant and the
rest from a USDA loan. Wright said after the meeting that he
wasn't sure whether
the new option would cost more or less than the spray field plan.
At 6 p.m. Dec. 20, a public hearing will be held at City Hall regarding
environmental issues with the city's new waste-water plan. EPD
and USDA officials will be at the meeting.
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