Canaan Valley Pursues Sewage Consolidation

By The Associated Press

DAVIS – Canaan Valley leaders are looking to consolidate 17 ailing sewage treatment plants into four upgraded ones to serve hundreds of homes and tourists’ attractions in an area that is home to a national wildlife refuge and acres of federally protected forest.

For the first time in more than 20 years, the Public Service Commission has agreed to create a new public service district. This one will serve the Canaan Valley.

All 17 sewage treatment plants now serving the Canaan Valley are about 20 years old and many do not meet environmental regulations, according to the PSC. As a result, the water quality of the Blackwater River suffers.

A 1997 engineering study estimated the cost of consolidating sewer service at about $17 million, but that cost is expected to increase because the area has changed in the past 10 years as the U.S. Park Service bought large tracts of land.

Two gifts of $5,000 each, one from the Tucker County Commission and the other from the Canaan Valley Institute, will help pay to update the study.

The county already has secured a $3 million grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to study how best to provide sewer service in the Canaan Valley area.

Canaan Valley Resort State Park and Timberline Four Seasons Resort would continue to operate their own sewage plants.

One challenge will be to determine how to handle peak demands for sewer service on weekends and during the summer, when tourists and second-home owners flock to the valley. The PSC said sewer plants typically operate most efficiently with more consistent flows.

Its order, entered April 27, gives the Canaan Valley PSD board members six months from taking office to successfully complete training for new board members, and requires the board to file quarterly progress reports with the commission that include the status of funding requests, engineering reports and DEP compliance orders for the existing treatment plants.

Canaan Valley includes the 10,215-acre federal Dolly Sods Wilderness Area, which has steep, rocky trails for expert hikers, and Canaan Mountain Backcountry, a plateau of about 13,532 acres that takes in Blackwater Falls State Park. Tucker County also is home to part of the federally owned 919,000-acre Monongahela National Forest.

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