Sewage Treatment Plan Being Argued in Frankfort

By Luke E. Saladin

A four-year-old debate over a proposed discharge point for a new sewage treatment plan in Northern Kentucky has moved to a new venue, before an administrative hearing officer in Frankfort, Ky.

Representatives from the Cincinnati Water Works and Sanitation District No. 1 of Northern Kentucky are there this week to argue the matter in a hearing conducted by the Kentucky Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Cabinet.

At issue is whether the proposed discharge point for the sanitation district’s new $75 million Alexandria Treatment Plant, which is scheduled to go online Labor Day weekend, poses a threat to Cincinnati’s water intake. Water works officials contend it does; the sanitation district counters there is no scientific evidence to support that claim.

"All we’ve done on this project from the beginning is talk about the science," said Deborah Metz, superintendent of water quality and treatment with the water works. "We’re not trying to be tree huggers or controversial about this, we’re concerned about the safety of our water."

The new plant will replace an older one on the same site. That facility has been outmoded for years and often spews raw sewage into local streams during heavy rains.

Sanitation District General Manager Jeff Eger said the plant and discharge point — along Brush Creek, a tributary of Twelve Mile Creek, about 5 miles upstream from where the latter stream empties into the Ohio River — more than complies with all federal regulations.

"The idea that this discharge poses a threat to drinking water is just wrong and I have yet to figure out where it comes from," Eger said. "It still puzzles me that Cincinnati claims they want to protect drinking water, yet all they’ve done is try to halt this project, which is going to correct a major health issue, from moving forward."

The discharge point for the existing plant is the same proposed for the new one.

The debate began in late 2003. Initially, the sanitation district planned to places the discharge for the new plant on the Ohio River, 11 miles upstream from the water intake for the Cincinnati Water Works in California, Ky.

Cincinnati officials, though, complained that could lead to their intake sucking in dangerous parasites found in sewage.

The water works challenged Kentucky’s approval of the discharge point along the Ohio, saying it should be built at least 25 miles away from the water works intake.

Sanitation district officials argued that federal law only requires discharges to be located five miles upstream from any water intake. The water works contended that the law required discharges to be at least 25 miles upstream from a water system intake or at least a quarter of a mile below it.

Before the issue could be resolved, the sanitation district announced in 2005 that it was moving the discharge to a location along Brush Creek, a tributary of Twelve Mile Creek, where effluent from the existing plant also was discharged.

The district said it made the changes because the pipeline to take the effluent to the Ohio River would have been several miles, crossing many properties and doing lots of damage to the topography in the area.

The sanitation district said that as part of the new plan, it would add additional treatment, including redundant ultraviolet light, to treat the sewage in an effort to kill any parasites and other toxins in the sewage.

To make the change, the sanitation district had to apply for a new permit for the discharge as well as have amendments to its regional facilities plan approved by the state. The plan outlines all the methods and facilities, both planned and in use, in southern Campbell County that are being used by the district to treat sewage.

The Kentucky Division of Water approved the amended regional facilities plan, but the Cincinnati Water Works appealed.

Eger said a pin dot on a piece of paper 8.5 by 11 inches represents how much discharge the new plant is going to place into the creek.

"It’s not a significant amount when you consider the flow," he said.

Cincinnati also plans to challenge the permit for the new discharge point if Kentucky approves it. A decision on that could come down any day now, Eger said.

This week’s hearing officer will make a ruling within 90 days. It will then be up to Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Cabinet Secretary LaJuana Wilcher to accept the ruling, amend it, or issue her own.

If either party want to appeal that, it would have to go to Franklin County Circuit Court.

Metz said Cincinnati would continue to challenge the permit if Kentucky approves it.

"We plan on fighting this on all fronts," she said. "Hopefully, at some point we can sit down and get the issue resolved, but that just hasn’t happened yet."

Eger said unless it is ordered to halt construction by the courts, the district is planning to open the treatment plant as scheduled.

"We’re moving forward unless the courts issue an injunction," Eger said. "Right now, each year the current plant has about 8 million gallons of untreated sewage spilling out of the system. It’s just unacceptable."

(c) 2007 Cincinnati Post. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.