StopChathamNorth
To the Residents of Briar Chapel,
Hope all of you are well. Here’s our latest updates on the Briar Chapel wastewater system.
Sewage Spill
On Wednesday March 3rd in the late afternoon @ 5:30-6:00pm, a sewage spill was reported at Hill Creek Blvd across from the storm water pond, near the intersection with Great Ridge Parkway. Sewage water was seeping up through the cracks in the road and draining down the gutters into the storm drains. This was a break in force main A in a section located under Hill Creek. There was also some spillage from the sewer manhole located on Great Ridge Parkway. (Picture 1, Video, Picture 2)
According to Amanda Grenier (WWTP ORC), the total volume spilled was estimated at 1,500 gallons and reported to NCDEQ. Amanda’s crew worked through the night to excavate the area of the spill. Tanker trucks worked through the night and most of the following day to clear the pump station and force main in order to do the repair, pumping out the sewage and hauling it up to the WWTP for processing. The repair to the broken pipe was completed @ 3:30pm on March 4th.
This is Briar Chapel’s 32 sewage spill (with a total of almost 90,000 gallons having been spilled in Briar Chapel). ONSWC is gotten permits to build a force main bypass from Pump Station A to the SD East force main. According to Amanda Grenier, work will start on the bypass in approximately two weeks.
We did not see a notice to residents on this spill from either Integra Water/ONSWC or First Residential/BCCA, so we are alerting residents to avoid that area.
ONSWC Publishes 2020 Annual Report
Recently ONSWC published a 2020 Annual Report. In the report they describe plans to convert the Briar Chapel WWTP from extended aeration to diffused aeration, fully enclose the tanks that are the suspected sources of odor and add a biofilter to process these odors – all as part of the plant expansion.
We are encouraged to hear these plans, but have not yet seen a permit modification request to NCDEQ that would be required to execute these plans. We are checking with NCDEQ and hope to find confirmation that ONSWC is planning to include odor control measures with the plant expansion.
Status Update on Tri-Party Agreement
Here’s the latest information we have on the status of the work outlined in the Tri-Party Agreement:
· Construction of the forcemain bypass was announced to begin on February 8th and is estimated to take 60 days. Equipment has been staged and the area marked off, but work has not yet begun. We’ve been told work will start in the next two weeks. The pipeline bypass will run from Pump Station A (on Great Ridge Parkway by the dog park) along Great Ridge Parkway to the SD-East force main (located behind the homes on Tyner Loop).
· Work on the WWTP expansion is starting. Equipment and materials have been staged. We had been told that ONSWC would be using the existing permit, but their 2020 Annual Report says that they will be requesting a permit modification to include odor control measures in their plant expansion to 500,000 gpd. Our understanding is ONSWC expects construction to be completed by end of 2021.
· NCDEQ is reviewing three additional permit modification requests from ONSWC that would convert some existing spray irrigation from potable to reclaimed water (e.g. Encore residential homes, homes in the Wildwind area and Sports Courts) and allows construction of some additional spray irrigation fields (area north and south of Western pond and in common areas within Encore and behind Cliffdale homes). If approved, this would increase our spray irrigation capacity to 521,454 gpd.
· The Tri-Party Council met on February 9th 2021. The minutes for this meeting have been posted. The next meeting is scheduled on March 9th 2021.
Documenting our Concerns
We are extremely thankful for the information shared with us by BC residents. We need to continue to document resident’s complaints/concerns, particularly odor issues. When you have a complaint, please call Integra Water’s customer service number 877-511-2911. To make sure your complaint is documented, we ask that you also email your concern to us at STOPCHATHAMNORTH@gmail.com. We will make sure your complaint is shared with all the appropriate parties (Integra Water, NCDEQ, BCCA board, First Residential, Amanda Grenier) and documented/tracked.
Fundraising
Total amount donated: $49,630.26 (485 families contributing)
Spent to date: $42,340.16 (Legal: $35,317.50, Engineering Expert: $6,142.00, Administrative: $880.66)
You can donate via PayPal by using this link:
https://paypal.me/STOPCHATHAMNORTHNC?locale.x=en_US
If you prefer not to use PayPal:
You can write a check to: STOPCHATHAMNORTH and mail it to: STOPCHATHAMNORTH in care of Liz Rolison, 1900 Briar Chapel Parkway, Chapel Hill, NC 27516 or simply drop the check at Liz’s house.
We are maintaining a full accounting of these funds and will return any unused funds to all homeowners who contribute on a prorated basis. Thank you again for contributing.
StopChathamNorth
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Mission Statement
StopChathamNorth is an unincorporated non-profit association representing concerned homeowners within Briar Chapel. StopChathamNorth does NOT support a regional wastewater treatment plant within the residential community of Briar Chapel. We are aware that there are several new communities surrounding Briar Chapel that are planning to utilize our WWTP. We are opposed to all of these plans to expand Briar Chapel’s WWTP for uses outside of the Briar Chapel residential community. We also believe that the WWTP and ONSWC must be fully compliant with all governance and regulatory guidelines to ensure operations do not create a nuisance, unhealthy or hazardous conditions for Briar Chapel residents.
For more information: www.stopchathamnorth.com