THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, January 13, 1996 TAG: 9601130351
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY LANE DEGREGORY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: KITTY HAWK LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines
State officials should encourage people to reuse treated wastewater instead of pouring it into rivers or sounds. But North Carolina should not significantly decrease its standards for treated wastewater that is sprayed in public areas, state Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight said Friday.
Future rules also should increase - or at least maintain - the required buffer zones between existing surface waters and places where effluent can be sprayed, Basnight, D-Dare, told about 50 environmental managers, town officials and citizens during a public meeting held at the Kitty Hawk Town Hall.
``If you keep applying lower standards, you're going to damage the water and kill all the rest of our shellfish,'' Basnight told representatives from the state's Division of Environmental Management. ``I know science says certain standards are okay. But it's hard to convince the people who live and work on the water of that when they can't find oysters out there any more.''
Under a proposed set of rule changes which the North Carolina Environmental Management Commission is scheduled to consider next month, state officials suggest that regulations be broadened to encourage more people to reuse treated wastewater.
As written, changes would increase the acceptable level of fecal coliform in wastewater that can be sprayed on residential lawns, golf courses, playgrounds, parks and roadways from 5 to 200 parts per 100 milliliters. They also would decrease the required buffer distance between effluent spraying and shellfish waters from 100 to 10 feet. And they would allow treated wastewater to be used in decorative fountains, golf course ponds or sprinkler systems of public buildings.
The wastewater, however, could not be used in swimming pools, hot tubs or for irrigating food crops.
``No discharge of this water would be allowed into the surface waters,'' state Water Quality Asst. Chief Donald L. Safrit said Friday. ``It makes good sense to dispose of these treated wastewaters through recycling rather than continuing to dump them into our surface waters. Other states already are much progressive about these uses than North Carolina.''
Although Safrit and his supervisor, Steve Tedder, stressed that treated wastewater was safe for the proposed uses even with 200 parts of fecal coliform in it, many speakers at Friday's meeting urged the state not to lower its strict application standards.
Kitty Hawk Mayor Clifton Perry, who asked the state officials to speak on the issue, said the proposed rule changes would ``destroy rather than protect shellfish breeding grounds. The clams are out there in the bay. And they're saying, `Help! Help! Help!,' '' Perry said. ``This is terrible.''
Ward McCreedy, vice chairman of Kitty Hawk's planning board, agreed. ``You can't put this water on strawberries,'' he said. ``It's just as important not to let it get into our shellfish waters. The same standards should apply.''
State officials held four public hearings on the proposed rule changes in November. But none was held in the Albemarle area, nor were they advertised in local newspapers. Basnight chided the state's environmental officials for leaving coastal communities out of the comment process, and asked them to hold future public hearings on the Outer Banks or in Elizabeth City.
Tedder promised to do so.
Safrit said he didn't hear many new comments on Friday. Most of the suggestions already had been made at other hearings, he said. And some of the public's recommended changes are being considered by state staff.
``Since land applications of this wastewater will be absorbed into the ground, we did think 200 parts would be an acceptable level,'' said Safrit. ``But now we're looking at lowering that recommendation to 25 parts. Not because science says so. But solely to help public perception.''
Any use of treated wastewater that would allow that water to stand - as fountains, golf course ponds or holding areas - would be clearly marked to indicate that the water was not safe for drinking, Safrit said. People would have to be educated not to swim, wade in or drink that water, he added.
Safrit also said the state is considering keeping its required 100-foot buffer zone between shellfish waters and wastewater spraying areas. by CNB