Residents say something “stinks” about the Mountain View Nursing Home’s wastewater treatment plant permit.
Last week, residents voiced concerns about the Aroda-based nursing home’s sewage situation. The facility is currently undergoing a renewal of its Virginia Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permit. The permit is required for any treatment facility that discharges into a public body of water or has an outfall that reaches a public body of water. The permit is issued by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ).
Last month, James Alexander contacted the Madison County Board of Supervisors opposing the permit renewal. He said the current plant design and outfall should be changed to a conventional-style drainfield. Alexander said the permit is to discharge into a stream, but no stream actually exists at the nursing home. Instead, he said the facility discharges its waste onto the ground with gravity taking it downhill across neighbors until it reaches Great Run.
“Solids–human excrement–have been thrown down this hill onto these properties,” Alexander said. “There’s no stream. It’s total fiction and has been that way for years.”
Alexander said there’s been only one inspection by DEQ in nine years. He said the required monthly discharge reports are prepared by Mountain View officials.
“Your car gets more inspection than this place,” Alexander said.
Lost Mountain Road resident Evans Oakerson agreed.
“Just because it’s been there for a long time doesn’t make it right,” he said. “The board needs to act to make some changes.”
Radiant resident Steve Carpenter said the ditch included in the application, which has zero flow, has been caused by the outflow of the plant. If there’s no flow, he said, the waste has to be flowing on the surface of the ground.
Tim Clemons, who acts as the plant operator for the nursing home and is also the general manager of the Rapidan Service Authority, said the wastewater plant is one that has existed for years. He said tests on the plant are conducted by a contract laboratory and the discharge into the unnamed tributary has existed for years. The plant, he said, is monitored daily and is in compliance with state regulations.
County administrator Jonathon Weakley said he spoke with a water compliance manager for DEQ and while there was a bad inspection report of the plant in 2019, things have improved “with the occasional excursion of permit limits.” Permit limit excursions are assessed points on a rolling scale. As of September, the facility had 2.4 points. A four-point maximum assessment would trigger corrective action by DEQ.
Alexander asked the board to express concerns regarding the permit renewal application. The county agreed to submit a letter to DEQ with the concerns from constituents.
“Any letter from the board is going to have an impact and they’ll have to address it,” county attorney Hannon Wright said.
Alexander hopes the DEQ will host a hearing on the application.
