Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 12, 1993 TAG: 9305120289
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The homeowners - who have yet to be identified - will be the first Roanoke County residents to pay the price of a strict sewer ordinance enacted Tuesday.
The ordinance imposes fines of up to $200 a month for homes that illegally dump ground water and surface runoff into county sanitary sewer lines. The water reaches the system through sump pumps, improper basement drains and broken pipes.
The added water overtaxes sewer lines and causes raw sewage to back up into homes in some neighborhoods.
In a 5-0 vote, the Board of Supervisors enacted the penalties to protect homeowners and to reduce the county's share of operating and expanding the regional sewage treatment plant.
Utilities Director Cliff Craig said the county would begin enforcing the new ordinance in the section of Penn Forest around Cave Spring High School.
County inspections of the first 108 homes in the area found at least 22 homeowners would have to make repairs within six months - or face the fines. Most homeowners face repair bills of less than $2,000 each, officials say.
Cave Spring District Supervisor Fuzzy Minnix suggested taking steps to ensure that homeowners who have to correct their drainage problems are not "taken" by unscrupulous contractors.
Minnix suggested that the county draw up a list of reputable contractors or have the utility department staff review repair bids.
"We ought to give our citizens as much help as possible," he said.
A contingent of Penn Forest residents attended Tuesday's meeting in hopes that the fines would protect their homes from sewer lines that overflow during heavy rains.
"You've convinced us that this will fix the problem," Michael Shaver told Craig after the vote. "If it doesn't, we'll be back here screaming."
Penn Forest residents have been complaining about the problem since the subdivision was built in the late 1960s.
County officials say the system is adequate, but that the lines become overburdened during heavy rains.
The 570 homes in the drainage area around Cave Spring High School use a total of 150,000 gallons of tap water a day. But the sewer mains are swamped with than six times that amount of water during heavy rains because of illegal connections to the sanitary sewer lines.
Craig said typical violations include sump pumps tied into the sewer lines, cracks in basement walls that allow water into basement drains and chips in pipes that allow ground water to seep into the system.
Craig said the ordinance will be enforced only in areas where the county has sealed leaks in county-owned sewer mains and has completed the tedious process of inspecting all the homes.
Craig said he did not want to penalize homeowners unless the county is not contributing to the problem and all neighbors are treated equally.
by CNB