Most Spruce Pine sewer and water customers back on line

  • MNJ Photo/Mariel Williams. Most of Spruce Pine’s wastewater customers are able to use their drains and toilets now. In the past, the town had asked customers to limit their use of the sewer system as wastewater was passing untreated into the North Toe River because of storm damage to the infrastructure.
    MNJ Photo/Mariel Williams. Most of Spruce Pine’s wastewater customers are able to use their drains and toilets now. In the past, the town had asked customers to limit their use of the sewer system as wastewater was passing untreated into the North Toe River because of storm damage to the infrastructure.
    Mariel Williams
    editor@mitchellnews.com

     

    Spruce Pine is continuing wastewater repairs following severe storm damage in September.

    “Pretty much everyone can use their bathrooms except for a stretch of Beaver Creek where the lines have been washed away,” Town Manager Darlene Butler said.

    Butler said that so far the town is only using one of the two portable treatment units it is renting, and that unit is serving the Ledger area well.

    “The downtown area, [U.S. Hwy.] 19E, and [N.C. Hwy.] 226 South areas are all going to the sewer plant, which has been repaired to the point of being able to treat that wastewater, and is doing so,” Butler said.

    This allows most restaurants in the Grassy Creek area to reopen.

    Butler said that all tap water customers except for one have had service restored as well. One significant issue, however, is that the town cannot yet provide water to local prisons which means the prisons cannot bring their inmates back from other locations.

    “The two prisons together use about 5 million gallons a month,” Butler said.

    Council member Rocky Buchanan noted that the town needs the prison water revenue. Butler said the dislocation is a hardship on prisoners and their families as well.

     

    Storm repair funding

    The Spruce Pine Town Council voted to accept a $3 million no-interest emergency bridge loan from the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality last week.

    The council expects to use reimbursements from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to pay back the loan.

    “It’s a no-interest loan, we can use it or not use it,” Butler said. “This is for water and sewer; this gives us up-front money we can use for emergency repairs.”

    The town is also receiving some unexpected disaster recovery funds from the town of Oak Island on the North Carolina coast. Oak Island held a fundraiser for Hurricane Helene relief called “Banding Together.”

    “The mayor, a council member and the police chief traveled here from Oak Island and had a ceremonial check presented that was $30,000, and actually the checks add up from their fundraiser to $30,005.54,” Butler said. “They had already prior to that brought a vehicle trailer full of supplies.”

    Butler read the resolution accepting the donation.

    “In the spirit of Thanksgiving, the town of Oak Island and its citizens went above and beyond,” she said.