ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, November 12, 1996 TAG: 9611120081
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NORFOLK
SOURCE: Associated Press
Nutrient-eating microorganisms are helping fight Chesapeake Bay pollution, but Virginia is wary of the cost of upgrading more sewage plants to use the technology.
Throughout the bay watershed, 592 major sewage plants discharge treated wastes into a river, stream or harbor that ultimately empties into the bay, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Of those, 32 are equipped with ``biological nutrient removal'' technology. Maryland leads the way with 22. Virginia is second with six.
At the Virginia Initiative Plant in Norfolk, sewage is filtered and forced into basins. Microorganisms eat nitrogen and phosphorous - nutrients that plague the bay by robbing water of life-sustaining oxygen. The resulting wastewater, with barely a trace of the nutrients, is fed back into the Elizabeth River through a thin canal.
Maryland is issuing up to $320 million in tax-guaranteed bonds to help local governments pay to upgrade dozens of treatment plants to use BNR, according to the Maryland Department of Environment.
Virginia so far has balked at making such an investment, The Virginian-Pilot reported Monday.
Some leaders in the bay's cleanup say that unless BNR is incorporated into other sewage plants on the James, York, Rappahannock and Potomac rivers in Virginia, the goal of reducing nutrients in the bay 40 percent by 2000 will not be met.
``I'm not sure how we'd get there'' without BNR, said Bill Matuszeski, director of the EPA's Chesapeake Bay office in Annapolis, Md.
Del. W. Tayloe Murphy Jr., D-Warsaw, plans to introduce legislation during the upcoming General Assembly session to fund millions of dollars in BNR improvements. His district touches the Potomac River.
Becky Norton Dunlop, Virginia's secretary of natural resources, has suggested that other, less costly options be explored for reducing nutrients in the Potomac and Virginia's half of the bay.
Gov. George Allen's administration recently has warmed somewhat to the idea of financial assistance from the state. An updated nutrient plan for the Potomac released last week lists partial state funding as an option.
Local officials along the Potomac and elsewhere had emphasized a need for the state to help share the cost, said Gary Waugh, spokesman for the state Department of Conservation and Recreation.
The state calculates it would cost $150 million to $175 million to reduce nutrients in the Shenandoah and Potomac river basins by 40 percent, Waugh said.
The Potomac feeds more nutrients into the bay than any other Virginia river. Estimates for adding BNR to eight plants on the Potomac range from $20 million to $80 million.
Sewage officials say that without financial help from the state, their customers would see rates greatly increase.
``If this is a partnership, as everyone says it is, then shouldn't the state be a partner in helping fund this effort?'' said James T. Canady, chairman of the Virginia Association of Municipal Wastewater Agencies.
By 2000, the number of BNR plants in the bay watershed is expected to rise to 76, said Allison Wiedeman, an EPA environmental engineer in Annapolis, Md.
Almost all of the upgraded plants will be in Maryland. Virginia is slated to add two BNR systems. One is the Nansemond plant in Suffolk, which is incorporating BNR without state aid, said James Borberg, general manager of the Hampton Roads Sanitation District.
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