The Impact of the McDowell County Sewer Service Expansion on Lake James

Document Contents Background The Environmental Point of View
The Environmental Problem The McDowell County Decision
The Corpening Creek Plant Option The Environmental Response
The Catawba Creek Plant Option

Background

Lake James is the fourth largest and deepest impoundment of the Catawba River chain of reservoirs owned by Duke Energy. It was formed in 1923 upon completion of dams across the Catawba and Linville Rivers. The lake is hydrologically divided into two sections of roughly equal size: the Catawba and Linville River sections. Water from the Catawba section flows through a manmade canal, enters the Linville section and exits through the Bridgewater hydroelectric power station at the Linville River dam. Lake water samples taken by NCDENR intermittently between from 1981 to 1987 show a higher incidence of nutrient loading and algal mass response in the Catawba section1. That result is not surprising since the Catawba section receives 10 times the treated sewage inflow as the Linville section3.

The Environmental Problem
Located on the Northwestern outskirts of Marion, North Carolina, the Pleasant Gardens community presently needs expanded sewer service of about 170 thousand gallons per day (GPD). The new service as currently planned will include an historic elementary school site and a few local businesses. The City of Marion operates two wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) near that area.

One of those plants, located on Corpening Creek, operates at about one third of its permitted three million GPD capacity and discharges treated effluent that enters the Catawba River downstream of Lake James.

The second plant, located on the Catawba River, operates at about one third of its permitted, 250-thousand GPD capacity and discharges effluent into the Catawba River which then flows into Lake James.

Either sewage plant is well situated to receive the Pleasant Gardens sewage through a combination of pump stations and pressurized/gravity flow sewer lines.

The Corpening Creek Plant Option
The disadvantage of going to Corpening Creek is the need to pump sewage about two miles uphill to an existing gravity flow sewer line, and to forgo about 5% of the capacity reserved for future industrial expansion. The main advantage is that the discharge from this plant will bypass Lake James entirely- protecting the clean water resource and being significantly less susceptible to equipment failure or heavy rainstorm-induced raw sewage overflow into Lake James.

The Catawba River Plant Option
The disadvantage of going here is that it discharges effluent that flows into the Catawba section of Lake James and will be susceptible to uncontrolled raw sewage overflow due to heavy rainstorms or equipment failure. North Carolina has not issued a permit for this plant to handle such events. The advantage is a lower cost of about $700,000.

The Environmental Point of View
At issue is not the need to expand sewer service within the Pleasant Gardens community, or really which treatment plant should receive and treat that sewage: The big issue is- how valuable is our top-quality watershed, our lake and it's cool water fish habitat? Habitat that currently supports cool fishery species including small mouth bass, walleye, lake trout, steelhead, tiger muskie, and northern pike.

A recent study by the University of North Carolina-Asheville makes two conclusions related to the expanded use of the Catawba River plant: Just like trout in a pond, our cool-water fish owe their existence to the high oxygen content of Lake James. At the end of each summer, oxygen within the cooler water layers of the Catawba section of the lake decreases significantly. Today the Catawba section barely sustains a cool water fish habitat. This means that our small mouth, walleye, trout, muskellunge and pike are very close to becoming extinct on this water body forever.

With the introduction of the planned 170,000 GPD effluent increase from the Catawba River plant, oxygen levels will drop below critical levels and the cool water fish habitat will be doomed. Gone from the Catawba section will be the trophy sized tiger muskellunge, northern pike and small mouth bass. The lake holds the state record for the largest tiger muskie at 33 pounds and northern pike at 11 pounds. Last spring the N.C. Wildlife Service retrieved an 11-pound small mouth bass from the lake.

Burke County recently extended a very expensive sewer service to the Duke Energy Southpointe subdivision on Lake James by collecting the sewage and piping it several miles under pressure to a plant that discharges into the Catawba River downstream of the lake. This approach met the subdivision sewer needs while protecting lake water quality and accommodating Burke County?s desire to avoid discharging sewage effluent into Lake James. This pattern is illustrated in the January 2000 Western Piedmont Council of Governments? study3 that presents data showing that 92% of the permitted effluent flowing into Lake James enters the Catawba section and originates in McDowell County. The balance of the permitted effluent (8%) enters the Linville section and originates in Avery and Burke Counties. The Catawba River section makes up about 40% of the lake yet it receives 10 times the treated sewage inflow as the Linville section.

On May 11, 2000, DENR Secretary Robert Holman responded to the expressions of concern from citizens and local governments in Western North Carolina and suspended temporary buffer rulemaking for the Catawba River basin. The suspension was granted with the understanding that in the interim, Burke and McDowell Counties will act as good stewards and protect the water quality of the streams & rivers- especially Lake James. The Holman letter states in part, "It is important that local governments take responsibility for protecting water quality while the EMC delays action..." and additionally, "DENR looks forward to working with McDowell and Burke County officials to protect the high water quality, excellent fishing, and scenic values of Lake James."

The McDowell County Decision
By a three to two vote, the McDowell County Commissioners now plan to use Lake James to receive the sewage needs of a few P.G. businesses. Unfortunately, the commissioners have elected to not follow the example set by Burke County nor the admonitions of Secretary Holman- but to sacrifice a significant increment of Lake James water quality and cool water fish habitat. All for a few dollars and the potential for servicing some future industrial wastewater need at the Corpening Creek treatment plant.

The Environmental Response
The Lake James Environmental Association feels there is relatively little to be gained with this decision and everything to lose. What is the price of this reliable clean water source for tens of thousands of people in McDowell and Burke Counties for generations yet to come?

We resisted the expansion of sewage operation at the Catawba WWTP as forcefully as possible, but lost the battle for public oinion among the county residents. Rather than passively watching and waiting for the environmental events to unfold, the Lake James Environmental Association is establishing and sponsoring a Volunteer Water Information Network (VWIN) program for Lake James in conjunction with the UNC-A Environmental Quality Institute.

The two objectives of the Lake James VWIN will be to establish a comprehensive, authoritative water quality baseline in the first year of operation and then detect any degradation to that baseline in subsequent years. Once armed with authoritative water quality information we can more effectively identify and oppose activities that further threaten the lake, its water quality, and its cool water fish habitat.

Citations:
(1) Basinwide Assessment Report - Catawba River Basin, NCDENR, August 1998
(2) An Assessment of the Trophic Status and Quality of Lake James and the Projected Impact of Increased Treated Wastewater Discharges, Richard P. Mass, Ph.D., Research Director, UNC Asheville Environmental Quality Institute, November 8, 2000.
(3) Estimates of Current and Future Sediment and Nutrient Loadings to Lake James Using EUTROMOD, Western Piedmont Council of Governments and Isothermal Planning and Development Commission, January 2000