Revised permit for Raleigh's sewage treatment plant concerns Neuse Riverkeeper

Late last month, Upper Neuse Riverkeeper Dean Naujoks of the Neuse River Foundation got a copy of the revised permit for Raleigh's sewage treatment plant from the state Division of Water Quality. What he found in it troubles him -- and it should trouble anyone else who cares about North Carolina's environmental health.

Located in southeastern Wake County, Raleigh's sewage plant came under scrutiny in 2002 for spraying too much sludge on farmland around the facility, contaminating the groundwater -- including at least 39 nearby residential wells -- with nitrates. Those chemicals have been linked to health problems including "blue baby syndrome," a condition in infants that interferes with the blood's ability to carry oxygen.

At the time, Naujoks called on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to investigate, alleging environmental violations and unethical management practices at that plant and also at the city's water treatment plant in North Raleigh. "I believe a full investigation would show there were violations of the Clean Water Act at both facilities and that there was an ongoing policy of repression and intimidation throughout public utilities which ultimately led to a variety of illegal environmental activities," he wrote.

The city eventually paid more than $80,000 in state fines for worker safety and environmental violations, and Mayor Charles Meeker issued a public apology to people whose wells were contaminated.

In 2003, the NRF challenged the plant's permit and pushed for revisions to limit discharges of nitrogen, which besides nitrification of drinking water also causes harmful algal blooms, outbreaks of Pfiesteria and other serious ecological disturbances. While the state did revise the plant's permit to address some issues related to nitrogen, it did not require additional nitrogen reductions. Furthermore, it lifted previous limits placed on heavy metal and cyanide pollution coming from the plant.

The permit took effect yesterday. Here is Naujoks' reaction, taken from his 2006 Neuse River Update e-mail (bold emphasis mine):

The primary focus of the permit (change) is to address the 1000 acres of ground water contamination caused by over applying sludge. According to NC DWQ this is the largest ground water contamination in the state and is currently leaching 120,000 lbs per year (slowly decreasing over the next 30 years). This source of ground water contamination contributes more nitrogen per year to the Neuse River than the town of Apex, Benson, Butner, Cary, Clayton, Johnson County, Wake Forest and Zebulon combined.

The Neuse River Foundation challenged this permit in 2003 to address the additional nitrogen loading from the ground water by adding this allocation to the permit and working to offset the additional nitrogen (through additional reductions in the discharge from the plant or other means). While we are pleased the state agreed with us to allocate the additional nitrogen into the Raleigh permit (and the Neuse River Compliance Association Group Permit), no additional nitrogen reductions were required by the state. Heavy metal and cyanide limits were removed. The Clean Water Act of 1972 stipulates that an NPDES Permit must have effluent parameters set for heavy metals; cadmium, chloride, copper, silver, mercury and zinc (40 CFR 122.44(d)(1i). This permit, issued days before Christmas, will go into effect on January 1st with out the ability of the public to request additional reductions. We are pleased that Raleigh has spent more than $40 million in recent upgrades. Significant improvements have been made to the Raleigh WWTP since NRF uncovered multiple violations in 2002, but Raleigh could certainly do better on this front. At the very least, they should work toward additional nitrogen reductions either individually or through the Neuse River Compliance Association (by simply adhering to EPA Guidelines). They have refused. You may see a press release on their plant recently being approved to the National Bio Solids program. I just hope we keep this all in perspective.

This is not a good way for the city to kick off the New Year. It's admirable that Mayor Meeker was willing to apologize for past problems caused by the plant, but his gesture would be much more meaningful if he also took aggressive steps to reduce the amount of pollution the city is dumping into the Neuse now and in the future.