Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 2, 1991 TAG: 9103020370
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A/3 EDITION: BEDFORD/FRANKLIN
SOURCE: Daivd M. Poole
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT LENGTH: Short
If anything, the new plant would improve water quality at the 20,000-acre reservoir.
Those are conclusions the state Water Control Board released Friday in a letter to the Smith Mountain Lake Association.
Last month, the association expressed concern that Rocky Mount's proposed sewage treatment expansion could threaten the quality of water at Smith Mountain Lake.
The plant's effluent could flow into Leesville Lake and be pumped back up through Smith Mountain Dam into the upper reservoir, said Walter A. Berg, chairman of the association's water quality committee.
Neil Obenshain, director of the water board's regional office in Roanoke, said there was no basis for the lake association's concerns.
In a letter to the association dated Thursday, Obenshain said there is no "conclusive evidence" that Pigg River water is pumped into the lake.
In any case, water from the Pigg River would have a beneficial effect because its phosphorous content is lower than those of the Roanoke and Blackwater rivers, which flow directly into Smith Mountain Lake, Obenshain said.
Moreover, the new treatment plant proposed by Rocky Mount would discharge a lower level of pollutants than the current plant, he said.
by CNB