News

State issues permit for Clear Creek sewer plant

By serving the WNC Justice Academy, Blacksmith Run and Camp Judea, Clear Creek sewer plant would take aging treatment plants off line.

By Bill Moss, Published: May 7, 2024

The state has issued a permit that would allow Henderson County to build a wastewater treatment plant on Clear Creek but at a much lower capacity than the county had sought. The permit also requires the county to upgrade the plant from its original proposal to meet a stricter discharge standard.

The director of the Division of Water Resources of the Department of Environmental Quality, Richard E. Rogers Jr., notified the county on Monday that it had issued the permit for the discharge of up to 200,000 gallons a day of treated effluent into the creek near the confluence of Laurel Branch east of Fruitland Road — 300,000 gallons per day less than the county sought in its permit application. The granting of the permit comes six weeks after the water resources division asked the county to recalculate the cost of the treatment plant to reflect stricter limits on the discharge from the plant.  

“Based on an information request, Henderson County updated its cost analysis for the project, projecting the updated cost at $11.8 million after the addition of a filtration system needed to meet more stringent limits on pollution in the plant’s discharge,” the water quality division said Tuesday in a news release. “During the review process, DWR determined more information was needed to ensure the proposed discharge would be protective of the downstream water quality at both Clear Creek and Mud Creek, which is downstream of Clear Creek.”

The county can live with the stricter treatment requirements and lower capacity, County Engineer Marcus Jones said.

“Compromise makes the world go round and the state came up with an elegant compromise between folks not in favor of the permit and the county, who was applying for it," he said. "It requires us to treat the wastewater to same level that Hendersonville treats theirs and also it did not give us the expansion to 500,000 gallons a day.

“That works within our modeling and our budget and it affects the environment better,” he added. “The additional permit requirements are not deal breakers as far as that goes. And they bring value to the citizens at a greater level of treatment and cleaner water.”

Commissioner Bill Lapsley, a retired civil engineer who has designed and sited many treatment plants, said he was pleased with the issuance of the permit.

“I think we met all the criteria,” he said. “I disagree that the additional treatment conditions are necessary based on the fact that they told us two years ago that it wasn’t necessary. I’m pleased that the permit is issued and now we can move forward to develop the system but I’m disappointed that we’re gonna have to spend another $775,000.”

Aging treatment plants would go off line

If the new plant is to be built, the county expects it to serve the WNC Justice Academy, Blacksmith Run and Camp Judea — taking three aging treatment plants off-line — and Edneyville Elementary School, which is on a failing septic system.

Henderson County and its consulting engineers sought the state’s approval to build a plant treating 200,000 gallons a day, with a planned expansion up to 500,000 gallons, fed by 6.9 miles of new sewer line. The treatment plant would cover around a half-acre of a 15-acre parcel at the confluence of Clear Creek and Laurel Branch. The project, estimated to cost $21 million, is funded by a state grant and $12.7 million in American Rescue Plan money.

During a public hearing on the permit on Feb. 5, numerous speakers told Division of Water Resources officials that tying into the city of Hendersonville treatment plant on Mud Creek would be a better option.

The higher cost of the Clear Creek treatment plant will have to be made up somewhere, Lapsley said.

“Will it jeopardize the project? No, but it may mean that we have to shorten the length of some of the shorter lines that were included in the budget,” he said. “We’ve only got so much money to work with. I don’t think it’ll jeopardize those treatment plans. We’ll definitely get those.”

Asked whether the stricter discharge limits would be a net gain for water quality of Clear Creek, Lapsley conceded that “cleaner is better.”

The possibility that it could build the plant and extend 7 miles of sewer line would put the Board of Commissioners back in the sewer business for the first time since it merged the Cane Creek Sewer District with the Buncombe County-based Metropolitan Sewer District.

“Now we have an option,” Lapsley said. “Without this permit, the only way we can go is to connect to the city. We’ve got two options to put on the table.”

County Commission Chair Rebecca McCall said while she had not seen details of the permit she was pleased that it was granted.

“As far as I know, it should work” at the 200,000-gallons-per-day limit, she said. “We can always file for larger capacity if we need to.”