Mariel Williams
editor@mitchellnews.com
The Spruce Pine Town Council devoted most of its meeting last week to discussions of storm damage, in particular to the town’s sewage system.
A primary concern is that, because flooding from Hurricane Helene destroyed the town’s wastewater treatment plant, sewage is flowing into the North Toe River. Because of this, the town administration has asked wastewater customers to exercise restraint in what they flush and pour down the drain.
There are portable toilets at various locations around town that are more suitable for solid waste until emergency repairs can be complete.
The town has also issued a boil water notice to keep water customers from drinking contaminated water.
Chris Rosenboom, Charlotte regional director of utilities for the engineering firm WithersRavenel, said that the priority right now is to focus on emergency repairs that meet the criteria for what the Federal Emergency Management Agency calls “exigent circumstances,” because doing this maximizes the potential for the town to get reimbursed for expenses later.
“That basically means emergency work and work that’s required for public health,” Rosenbloom said. “We’re trying to get wastewater, raw wastewater, out of the river and make sure people can flush again.”
It’s important, Rosenbloom said, not to mix essential repairs with making improvements on the system previously in place, because that could make it difficult to get FEMA to pay for the work.
“It involves fixing broken lines, identifying temporary treatment measures to quickly remove the raw sewage from the river,” Rosenbloom said.
Rosenbloom said his firm has expertise in dealing with FEMA paperwork and regulations that it can share with Finance Manager Crystal Young and the rest of the town hall staff.
WithersRavenel is searching the sewer system for breaks using closed circuit television and other methods. The town is also leasing temporary wastewater treatment units to make sure the sewer system can function safely and normally without polluting streams and rivers before looking at the full scope of repair and rebuilding work that is needed.
“The idea is to get everyone operational — I hate the word normal, but get things to where they are operating normally,” WithersRavenel engineer Ken Orie said in response to a question from Mayor Philip Hise.
After installing temporary processing units, the next step is temporary repairs on the existing wastewater treatment facilities.
“We will be able to get that plant functioning, with some ‘Band-Aids,’ temporary piping, etc., but we will be able to get that plant operational,” Orie said.
Rosenbloom said his team has identified some parts of the existing plant that can be restored, at least temporarily, and other parts that will need to be quickly replaced.