Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 15, 1991 TAG: 9103150611
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The Smith Mountain Lake Policy Advisory Board and Lake Association say they will continue monitoring state licensing requirements for a treatment plant the town of Rocky Mount wants to build on the Pigg River.
Under preliminary requirements, the plant would be designed to handle 2 million gallons per day and to remove at least 93 percent of organic matter. The current plant is required to remove only 82 percent of organic matter.
Though the new plant would improve water quality, the lake groups believe the water board should hold the town of Rocky Mount to the same stringent standards as Roanoke.
"It seems to us that if you modernize it, you ought to modernize it completely," said Bob Halwk, president of the Smith Mountain Lake Association.
Members of the Policy Advisory Board, which met Thursday night, also voiced concern about effluent dumped into the Pigg River.
The Pigg River flows into Leesville Lake, a reservoir that serves as a holding basin for the Smith Mountain dam pump-back system. Some believe that water from the Pigg River could be pumped back into Smith Mountain Lake and harm water quality in the upper reservoir.
Last month, water board regional director Neal Obenshain said there was no conclusive evidence that Pigg River water is pumped into Smith Mountain Lake.
In any event, water from the Pigg River would have a beneficial effect because its phosphorus content is lower than that of the Roanoke and Blackwater rivers, which flow directly into Smith Mountain Lake, Obenshain said.
by CNB