Fairhope, Alabama
'ENVIRONMENTAL SUCCESS OF UTILITIES' THE GOAL
The city's Environmental Committee met last week to discuss ways to support proposed sewage system upgrades to minimize spills and overflows during storms when rainwater seeps into leaky pipes overwhelming system capacity.
Operations Director Peterson asked the rhetorical question "does Fairhope want to have top-of-the-line utilities," ... then emphasized how replacing/relining the old leaky pipes, adding new side stream temporary storage tanks, new controls and monitoring, and even supplementary treatment facilities away from the bay need to be considered to deal with expected future growth; but most of those still are in need of funding sources.
With current growth rates, the sewage treatment plant will reach capacity (4 million gallons/day) in about 10 years and long-term planning should begin now; a $10 million RESTORE grant (BP oil spill fine money) has been applied for ... but considerably more will be needed to address all of the issues to keep local waters as clean as possible, he said.
A committee member said encouraging citizens to conserve water (low flow toilets, shower heads, etc) and re-using gray water (from bath, shower, sink) should be considered too.
OTHER MATTERS
* The committee continued discussing ways to implement a testing plan for bacteria in the bay and local waterways.
* Member Mike Shelton mentioned a new study of expected adverse effects of rising sea levels in the northern Gulf of Mexico.
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| Peterson second from right |
'ENVIRONMENTAL SUCCESS OF UTILITIES' THE GOAL
The city's Environmental Committee met last week to discuss ways to support proposed sewage system upgrades to minimize spills and overflows during storms when rainwater seeps into leaky pipes overwhelming system capacity.
Operations Director Peterson asked the rhetorical question "does Fairhope want to have top-of-the-line utilities," ... then emphasized how replacing/relining the old leaky pipes, adding new side stream temporary storage tanks, new controls and monitoring, and even supplementary treatment facilities away from the bay need to be considered to deal with expected future growth; but most of those still are in need of funding sources.
With current growth rates, the sewage treatment plant will reach capacity (4 million gallons/day) in about 10 years and long-term planning should begin now; a $10 million RESTORE grant (BP oil spill fine money) has been applied for ... but considerably more will be needed to address all of the issues to keep local waters as clean as possible, he said.
A committee member said encouraging citizens to conserve water (low flow toilets, shower heads, etc) and re-using gray water (from bath, shower, sink) should be considered too.
OTHER MATTERS
* The committee continued discussing ways to implement a testing plan for bacteria in the bay and local waterways.
* Member Mike Shelton mentioned a new study of expected adverse effects of rising sea levels in the northern Gulf of Mexico.
 |
| Sea level rise concerning |
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