After 5 years of planning, Stumpy Point water plant to be built

Five years after planning began, a wastewater treatment plant and collection system is ready to be built in Stumpy Point.

Discharge there has been draining straight from septic tanks into a canal.

"It's environmental remediation," said Dare County Planning Director Ray Sturza.

"It's reversing a situation that's not really salutary for Stumpy Point Bay."

A $2.2 million grant approved this month by the state Clean Water Management Trust Fund and a $200,000 grant from the North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center will allow the project to move forward, said Gary Hartong, branch manager of the civil and environmental department of the Greenville office of The Wooten Co.

Hartong said a 50,000-gallon-a-day "membrane bio-reactor" will replace the septic systems used by the 195 residents of the low-lying Dare County mainland area. The system will be connected to 128 properties.

At least 63 households are using straight-pipe systems that discharge from septic tanks into the canal parallel to Bayview Drive, he said.

Also, wastewater going into septic systems can back up into people's plumbing during floods.

High levels of fecal coliform bacteria have been detected in two areas of Stumpy Point Bay, one where the canal empties into the bay, Hartong said. Most of the bay's water, Hartong said, is classified high quality by the state.

The total cost of the plant and the low-pressure collection system has increased to about $6 million. Originally, in 2004, they were to be funded by a $465,000 Rural Center grant and a $1.7 million Clean Water grant, as well as $551,000 in county funds. Now, about $800,000 still needs to be funded. The required 12 permits have been issued, but the delay has contributed to the price increase.

The high groundwater table and flat land at the site, which is surrounded by the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, also made things more expensive, Sturza said, and the footprint of the facility had to be extra-compact.

"The design of the plant was more complicated because of the fragility of the setting," he said.

Although the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permitted the project, the issue of secondary and cumulative effects on wetlands from Stumpy Point's 66 undeveloped lots has not been resolved. As the permit is written now, those properties are not permitted to hook up to the new system.

Sturza said he expects that the county will design a model to address the situation.

"It's going to probably be dealt with through mitigation," he said. "But first, we have to concoct an estimate of how much wetlands is going to be impacted before the lots are even developed."

The new plant will be on 1.66 acres and will serv e the area along U.S. 264 south to Lake Worth canal and east to Bayview Drive. Residents and businesses will be equipped with a small septic system and a pump on their property.

The discharge will be pumped to the plant through a small-diameter pipe. The treated effluent will then be discharged into Bayview Drive canal.

Hartong said construction is expected to begin in September and to be completed in about 12 months.

Catherine Kozak, (252) 441-1711, cate.kozak@pilotonline.com