Report targets plant project

A group opposed to a proposed sewage treatment plant on Bluewater Creek hopes a report it commissioned will put a stop to future action on the project.

Jim Akin, spokesman for East Lauderdale Environment Conscious Citizens, said the conclusions made by hydrogeologist Tom Ailey in his report are irrefutable evidence that the plan to put a wastewater facility near Mill and Bluewater creeks poses a distinct environmental hazard.

The report reads, "The potential for this problem should have been assessed by the engineer prior to proposing Mill Creek as an effluent disposal stream. The engineer should also have considered the nuisance algae problems that sewage disposal into Mill Creek will create for property owners" along the creeks.

Akin said the full report would be released Tuesday at the public hearing concerning the proposed project.

Alabama Utility Services, a private company specializing in wastewater services and based in Pell City, has been issued a draft permit by the Alabama Department of Environmental Management to construct a facility in Elgin at the intersection of Lauderdale 50 and 33. Discharge for the site would be near Mill and Bluewater creeks, but service initially would be for around 1,200 residents in the Killen area, more than seven miles west of the proposed facility.

Killen Mayor Jerry Mitchell has said the town is in need of a sewage treatment facility so it can accommodate anticipated retail and residential growth.

Mitchell and the five council members are expected to be at Tuesday's meeting, along with representatives of Alabama Department of Environmental Management and Alabama Utility Services, or AUS, which is the company proposing to build the treatment plant. Company co-owner, Chris Matthews, is also scheduled to attend.

Contacted about the report and his knowledge of the findings, Matthews said, "discharge and any environmental effects are for ADEM to decide, not me or even AUS," adding that he had not seen nor was he aware of the information in Ailey's release.

"If there is anything in that report, (members of the citizens group) need to make ADEM aware of it so they can study it further," Matthews said.

Since hearing of the proposed site, Akin said a core group of residents has been fighting it, going to what some might consider extremes, including shelling out $10,000 for Ailey's report.

"To us, it's money well spent because it's given us some ammunition from someone who's well respected in the science community and who is familiar with this issue," Akin said. "A lot of what he says in the report were things we'd surmised, but we didn't have the technical expertise to come up with his conclusions."

Akin contends that the location of the wastewater facility is no accident.

"We think the reason the mayor and council want it out here is that they don't want it in their backyards, and they don't want to fight a battle with the folks who live and vote in Killen to put it there," Akin said. "The second thing is that AUS has seen an opportunity in Lauderdale County to be able, eventually, to put service to the east end of the county at some point."

Mitchell has said Killen is unable to afford construction and operation of its own facility, and enlisting the help of a private company such as AUS that would allow Killen to franchise the services is the best answer to the town's dilemma.

AUS lists on its Web site projects under way across the state, from Lauderdale to Baldwin County in south Alabama.

Akin, however, said, once a town or city enters into an agreement with one of these private companies, the rules of the game change.

"Look at what's happened in Baldwin County, where their (sewage) rates have gone from $32.50 to $54.50," he said. "There's no guarantee that once Killen signs a contract the same thing won't happen to them. That says nothing of what could be the case for the rest of the county where there will be no contract."

Another option for Killen is to tie its sewage lines into those in Florence, removing the need to send the pipes east. Mitchell said AUS would be part of the plan as a financier.

Akin said he'd like nothing more than to see that happen for Killen, especially if it would mean the growth town officials hope for.

But his bigger priority is guarding Bluewater Creek.

"There is a possibility we won't win, and an appeal would be the next step in the process. AUS would have the right to appeal, too," he said. "I read that a small group of committed citizens can accomplish a whole lot. We're doing this work, and it's a benefit to us, but we're also trying to serve the greater good."

Michelle Rupe Eubanks can be reached at 740-5745 or michelle.eubanks@timesdaily.com.