A public hearing will be held Monday regarding a local nursing home’s wastewater treatment plant permit.
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).
As part of the renewal process, DEQ held a public comment period from Oct. 30 through Dec. 1. During that time, 30 comments were received with all commenters requesting a public hearing. Radiant resident James Alexander said a petition containing more than 70 signatures was also submitted.
In November, 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. The permit, he said, 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 an inspection of the facility in 2016 was “deficient” and one in 2019, the most recent inspection of the system, found gross violations. In addition, he said the required monthly discharge reports are prepared by Mountain View officials.
Utilizing reports obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, Alexander said the facility paid for violations in 2020 related to releasing untreated sewage, exceeding concentrations of ammonia, total suspended solids, nitrogen and biochemical oxygen demand while not meeting the minimum concentration for total residual chlorine. Warning letters were issued in 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 for various deficiencies including not submitting an updated pharmaceutical management and disposal plan within 180 days of the permit reissuance.
The board of supervisors ultimately submitted its own letter to DEQ requesting a hearing. The state government entity requires at least 25 comments requesting a public hearing before one is scheduled.
With the threshold met, DEQ will host a public hearing March 2 at 7 p.m. at 414 N. Main Street, Madison. In the meantime, a new public comment period is ongoing through March 17 at 11:59 p.m. Written comments can be submitted to Ben Cunningham, DEQ-Central Office, 1111 East Main Street, Suite 1400, Richmond, VA 23219 or Benjamin.Cunningham@deq.virginia.gov Submittals must include the names, mailing addresses or email addresses of the commenter and of all persons represented by the commenter.
Should inclement weather cause schools to be closed March 2, the hearing will be held March 16 at 7 p.m.
During a prior board of supervisors meeting, 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.
