Mount Olive town commissioners have developed a PowerPoint presentation explaining the sewer moratorium and grants the town has received and posted it on the town’s website. (Tribune file photo)
Mount Olive Mayor Pro-tem Steve Wiggins checks paperwork at one of the town’s ordinance review and work sessions. Wiggins suggested the need for a presentation explaining the sewer moratorium the town is under. It has been created and posted online. (Tribune file photo)
Mount Olive’s nearly half century struggle with sewer issues combined with the current moratorium on new sewer hookups are complex issues that continue to generate questions from the public and demand attention during town board sessions.In an attempt to answer those questions, and to educate the public, town commissioners have developed a PowerPoint presentation and posted it online.
The presentation includes a summary of pre-moratorium grants and loans for the period of 2015 to 2022.It outlines the conditions of the Special Order of Consent the town has been operating under since 2015 and speaks as well as to how hurricanes and climate change affected pre-moratorium efforts as well as COVID-driven problems.
The problem is more complex than a wastewater treatment plant that has failed to live up to its promised performance when it was built in 2007.
The other major contributing factor, one not readily seen by the public, is the miles of underground sewer lines — some more than 100 years old and made of terracotta — that allow rainwater and groundwater into the sewer system.Known as inflow and infiltration, or I&I, once the water enters the sewer system it has to be treated, placing an added burden on an already strained system — particularity when heavy rains overpower the plant’s treatment capacity.
It also adds to the cost of treatment.
The presentation is the outgrowth of one of the town board’s ordinance work session where Mayor Pro-tem Steve Wiggins said he wished the town had a short presentation on the history and status of the moratorium.
It would, he said, be useful to help answer citizens’ questions.
“I offered to try to pull it together, with (Town Manager) Jammie Royall, (Town Clerk) Sherry Davis, Glenn Holland (sewer plant operator) and (Utilities Director) Jeremy King’s help,” Commissioner Barbara Kornegay said. “I hope it will give an accurate and up-to-date picture of what is happening now.
“Of course, I will need to update it, and I have asked Jeremy King, our utilities director, to look over it for any inaccuracies just now.”
Getting off the moratorium does have an end date — if all goes well and the town stays on schedule — in 2026, she said.
So far the town has done all that the state Department of Environmental Quality has asked of it, despite the hardships it has put on the town, Kornegay added.
“Glenn and Steve deserve a lot of credit for doing two very difficulty jobs under much scrutiny, criticism and complaints,” she said. “The summary offers hope that we can get it done, and also a measure of assurance that the town — board and employees — are keeping it our top priority.
“Managing all the grants that are associated with the steps needed to get off the moratorium takes time, expertise and energy.”
The town also has to keep supporting these “fine employees” for doing their part, rather than criticizing them for not getting it done faster, she added.
There is no fast button for wastewater sewer systems, Kornegay continued.
“They are complicated and take constant management and regular and expensive maintenance,” she explained. “Even after we are free of the moratorium, there will be constant upgrades in order to keep up with the environmental regulations and the expected growth in the town.”
The average citizen — anyone who lives in town or nearby or who works here or owns property here — should be interested because the moratorium affects sewer expansion, Kornegay said.
Sewer expansion goes with every new house, business or industry trying to set up in our area, she said.
“No new sewer connections can be added until we are off the moratorium — meaning our system has to be able to handle extra sewer flow into the spray fields and the Northeast Cape Fear River,” Kornegay added. “Right now we are at our top limit.
“When the moratorium gets lifted, all the improvements are complete for our sewer plant and the I& I in our pipes, our limit can increase.”
For citizens the moratorium means no new restaurants, no new industries for new jobs, and no extra taxes so the town can improve other much needed town services — paying for constant improvements in the public works department, extra trucks for garbage and trash, street repair and pavement, and so on, she continued.
“And while we are letting our employees do their jobs in wastewater treatment, the downtown revitalization project goes forward — getting ready for new business when the moratorium is lifted,” Kornegay said. “We must continue to support our town’s businesses, help them stay in business so that we do not lose our base.
“We are so fortunate to have these business owners who stayed open during the pandemic, and who are still here despite the challenges that continue to face. I just hope residents and visitors give them the credit they deserve.”
The presentation can be found at https://onedrive.live.com/edit.aspx?resid=BCFCC13AD194D35E!530&ithint=file%2cpptx&wdo=2&authkey=!AKWuQGlwkQXr3XQ.
