May 14, 2012

County considering control over sewage systems

By SCOTT WRIGHT

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CENTRE — At last week's meeting of the county's Decentralized Wastewater Authority, it quickly became clear that decades of headaches from dealing with private sewer companies in Cherokee County have local officials looking for something—anything—that might work better in the future.

One idea that all the parties involved in the discussion seemed excited about was the prospect of the Cherokee County Water and Sewer Authority taking the lead on decentralized sewage in the county.

“The reality is that a group is going to come in and choose the areas with the most customers, and who's to say they can or can't?” said Water and Sewer Authority General Manager Sid Garrett, who attended the meeting. “With that thought in mind the County Commission, through us, can do the same thing.”

With one distinct advantage, Garrett pointed out.

“We can cheat, we can go after grant money,” Garrett said. “And when we get grant money it is going to reduce the cost to the customer because we have options that private businesses don't have.”

At last week's meeting, Garrett and the three members of the Wastewater Authority were joined by three of four county commissioners, representatives from Alabama Power, officials from the Alabama Department of Public Health, and another representative from the Water Authority.

One reason the meeting was so well attended was the Commission's recent passage of a sewage ordinance intended to help clean up Weiss Lake.

“The Commission felt like getting us involved was the answer,” Garrett said of the Water and Sewer Authority. “Otherwise, there was fear that their passing the sewage ordinance would basically be giving private companies a license to come into the county and fleece us all.”

After the Commission acted on April 9, the state Health Department began the process of establishing a procedure that will allow them to enforce the ordinance. The rules include a variance that will establish a permitting process to allow sewage holding tanks at recreational lots inside the Alabama Power flood easement. The rules are set to go into effect July 9. (See related article here.)

There seems to be a consensus among local officials that decentralized systems—which can be installed in many areas otherwise inaccessible to sewage—are the long-term answer to reducing pollution in Weiss Lake.

Garrett said his organization, with the blessing of the County Commission, is putting together a plan to allow it to act as a buffer between customers and private entities whose profit motives might otherwise leave some areas of the county neglected or ridiculously overcharged.

“We're not trying to push anybody out,” Garrett said. “But when this starts rolling we need to be prepared for what comes next. Someone has to govern these [systems] so that we don't have another failure like we have had in the past, and then companies drag their feet for years instead of fixing the problem.”

Garrett said he hopes all the various groups interested in cleaning up the lake can work together to create a way to govern decentralized systems.

“As environmentally sensitive as the lake is, and as much noise as has been made in Cherokee County, and with the Health Department and Alabama Power endorsing this, all those things are in our favor,” Garrett said. “The negatives about the lake from the past can become positives.”

Garrett said the $2,000 tap fee one private company set out to charge customers a few years back—a fee that had to be paid months before a sewage system was actually in place—was “exorbitant,” in his opinion. Also, there was no guarantee that such systems were being built consistently using reliable parts.

“The county would like to entertain the possibility of doing a survey to determine where to start,” Garrett said. “We've already made some inroads into that. We've done some preliminary work to get everything ready.”

Garrett said the study he has in mind would identify the worst areas of the lake to determine which of those would benefit most from a decentralized sewage system. He said the prevailing concern with a private company is that it might focus on the highest number of customers, or the quickest return on its investment, at the expense of the main goal of cleaning up the lake.

“We have an advantage, because the Water Authority is still going to be here in 10 years, in 20 years,” Garrett said. “Some company might come in here now and then be sold, or go out of business in a few years. We're always going to be here.”

Garrett said no one will have to worry about paying thousands of dollars up front if the Water Authority takes on the task.

“Everything we would charge would be justified, because the people on our board who make those decisions are people who live here in the community,” Garrett said. “They'll be paying the same charges.”

Garrett said there are still a few legal questions to answer and specifics to sort out before the Water Authority can commit.

“But the board members are receptive to the idea,” Garrett said. “They want to be part of the solution. It was important to them that the county has pledged to support us.”

Garrett thinks people in Cherokee County will support a plan for local control, too.

“They will be a lot more trust if the Water Authority is involved,” Garrett said. “Our main priority will be providing the people of Cherokee County with the best service at the lowest possible cost.”