The deadline for the public comment period on a petition for rulemaking involving a local nursing home’s wastewater treatment plant is quickly approaching.
Madison County residents have voiced concerns about the Aroda-based Mountain View 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). A public hearing on the permit will be held May 27, 6:30-8:30 p.m. at 414 N. Main Street, Madison.
Meanwhile, the public comment period for a separate petition is quickly approaching the deadline. Madison County resident James Alexander, along with Evans Oakerson, filed a petition with the State Water Control Board for rulemaking. The petition asserts that “regulatory amendments are necessary to address significant gaps in existing regulations regarding discharges into dry ditch or intermittent streams from wastewater facilities discharging 1,000 gallons or more each day.” The amendments are needed following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency. That case ended the EPA’s jurisdiction over intermittent streams, ephemeral streams or dry ditches. Alexander said the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit issued by the EPA was based on the Clean Water Act (CWA) and served as the authority for DEQ’s VPDES permits.
“The removal of CWA jurisdiction over intermittent streams, ephemeral streams or dry ditch situations means that DEQ can no longer rely on provisions of the Clean Water Act or the EPA to grant permits or enforce sewage discharges in these settings,” Alexander and Oakerson wrote.
The Mountain View permit involves an intermittent stream.
Alexander and Oakerson proposed that DEQ adopt regulations to address the situations, suggesting a modification of the regulations that DEQ uses for permits involving discharges of more than 1,000 gallons. These include requiring Reliability Class I by using a passive, backup biological treatment system; a generator with an automatic transfer switch; a 24-hour holding tank for raw wastewater treatment with telemetry system to immediately notify the operator of system failures and any alternative means that limits the discharge of noncompliant effluent to a maximum of two hours. The effluent would be continually disinfected by providing electronic or mechanical means of monitoring the process such that failure would be corrected within 12 hours.
The petition was announced in the Virginia Register of Regulations in April with a public comment period scheduled for April 20 – May 11. According to the Virginia Register online portal, as of Wednesday no comments have been received. Those wishing to submit a comment can do so online at https://townhall.virginia.gov/l/comments.cfm?petitionid=454. The State Water Control Board is expected to consider the petition at a future meeting.
