THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, September 17, 1996 TAG: 9609170285
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MAC DANIEL AND SCOTT HARPER, STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: 84 lines
State Del. Lionell Spruill Sr., flanked by Chesapeake city officials, accused state prison and environmental officials Monday of keeping the city in the dark about sewage spills from St. Brides Correctional Center into Indian Creek.
The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, however, rejected the charges.
DEQ's regional director, Frank Daniel, said Chesapeake had indeed been notified of the spills by the state Health Department.
Further, he said, St. Brides has upgraded its sewage plant since 1994, when the overflows occurred, and the plant now runs fine. ``They're taking old reports and jumping to some wild conclusions,'' said Daniel.
The creek, in southern Chesapeake, flows into Northwest River Park and is a tributary of the Northwest River, the city's main source of drinking water.
At a hastily called news conference in which Spruill, D-Chesapeake, was the main speaker, city officials assured residents that the sewage has had no effect on local drinking water.
Nonetheless, Mayor William E.Ward and others described the alleged lack of notification about the 1994 spills as a ``moral'' issue, especially in light of several state violations resulting from the overflows back then.
``I want to make sure the state does a thorough investigation,'' said Spruill. ``I can't believe it didn't have an effect (on water quality).''
City officials have called a meeting today with DEQ. In the meantime, City Attorney Ronald S. Hallman is researching whether the state must notify Chesapeake when such sewage violations occur. By day's end Monday, Hallman said his staff had yet to determine whether state law requires notification.
``There is a moral obligation to inform us'' of such problems, said Ward. ``What we're concerned about is the potential for more dumping to take place and us not to know about it.''
Daniel said the procedure is clear. If a major spill takes place that threatens water quality, DEQ will notify the city. If a smaller spill occurs, the state Health Department will inform managers at the city water treatment plant, located near St. Brides.
He stressed that none of the spills, which are documented in reports from the winter and spring of 1994, was serious enough to threaten the integrity of Indian Creek or aquatic life living in its shallow brown waters.
The system relies on St. Brides' informing the state Health Department that a spill has happened. Dan Horne, engineering field director for the state Health Department's Tidewater office, said prison officials indeed reported repeated overflows in 1994, which, he said, were relayed to city utility managers.
``I can't say we notified the city every time, but I can say we told them on numerous occasions,'' Horne said Monday.
Amar Dwarkanath, director of public utilities for Chesapeake, however, said Monday that, after reviewing his records and ``to the best of my knowledge, we have not received any notification.''
Dr. Nancy M. Welch, Chesapeake's health director, also said her office had never been notified of a sewage spill by DEQ or the prison.
Spruill said he found out about the overflows on Sept. 8 from employees and former employees at St. Brides, who, he claimed, had been demoted or transferred after they had threatened to release the information.
The delegate released reports to the State Water Quality Control Board that detailed how tens of thousands of gallons of treated and partially treated sewage washed over containment walls in January, February, March, April and May of 1994.
The problems were especially acute in April that year, according to the reports. St. Brides was cited for four violations for allowing too much nitrogen, suspended solids and dissolved oxygen into the environment.
For four days, nearly 500,000 gallons of effluent escaped the plant, the reports show.
Daniel noted, however, that St. Brides' effluent is released into a ditch that extends south for about a half-mile before reaching a swamp. The swamp then covers another half-mile before touching Indian Creek.
``If that whole system were to collapse, I doubt there'd be a problem in Indian Creek . . . because the sewage would dissipate before getting there,'' Daniel said.
The manager of Northwest River Park said he could not remember any nuisances associated with sewage, such as fish kills or foul odors.
State Department of Corrections spokesman David B. Botkins said Monday that ``the DOC is, and always has, worked very cooperatively and closely with DEQ to remedy any waste water treatment problems at St. Brides.
``At no time,'' he said, ``has the drinking water been threatened by discharges or overflows.'' by CNB