At their May work session Colonial
Heights City Council expressed concern about Petersburg owing the South Central
Wastewater Authority, a joint venture between the two cities and Dinwiddie,
Chesterfield, and Prince George counties.
It seemed that Petersburg was somewhere in the neighborhood of $1.5
million behind in some of its payments.
Council was concerned because a
failure to pay at least part of that debt could cause the other four localities
to have to fork over more money on a proportional basis to make up the
difference. At least, that’s what they thought might happen.
“Because it is a partnership, some of their costs could be
eventually passed on to the city of Colonial Heights and some of the other
surrounding communities,” said Colonial Heights Mayor Greg Kochuba said during
that meeting.
During the discussion, they also
brought up that the federal government wanted the plant to make upgrades to the
tune of more than $5 million. They had
narrowly side-stepped that suggestion a few years ago, but the likelihood of it
going away is slim and none. At some point, the sewage treatment plant, located
on the southern tip of Pocahontas Island, will likely have to undergo some expensive
upgrades.
Needless to say, it was a relief
to hear that Petersburg was able to make two back payments cutting the amount
they owed by $700,000. But the whole
thing is a bit odorous, so to speak.
Sewage treatment plant payments
are tied to water bills. The amount of water that goes into a home is
considered the same amount that goes out of the home. In other words, you are
charged twice for any water you use in your home. Unless you get a meter that
shows how much water is used or other purposes, such as a sprinkler system,
that’s how the sewage rates are applied. Still, what goes in must come out.
The city council fretted over
those potential costs coming on the heels of the new courthouse, the new $6
million radio system, and the “safety” upgrades to the school systems. If they had to pay the costs to make up for
Petersburg’s shortfall it would be a burden put on the citizens, who are
already being burdened.
They fretted about what to do, but
a seeming answer to the dilemma might just be one community away. Hopewell’s
waste water treatment plant, in its day, was the model of efficiency. It was
built to handle millions of gallons of wastewater per day, and over the years,
they have seen a drop off in use as some of the larger plants shut down. That
unused capacity could potentially be an answer to the dilemma.
The Federal Correctional
Institute, in Prince George, is served by the Hopewell plant. While there would in fact be some significant
costs involved in sending sewage that way, it bears checking into. Perhaps the plant could not accept the amount
of sewage we’re talking about, but then on the other hand spending millions to
update an aged plant might be even more expensive.
If the problems and woes in
Petersburg, which appear to increase on a daily basis, are causing such a fret
in this city, why not look outside the box?
Why not see if such a deal would be possible and cost effective? We have engineers on staff, we know the
general costs, even coming up with a guess at such a construction project should
not be too hard.
Why not just call the Hopewell
wastewater treatment plant director to see if they could handle the capacity
and whether they would be willing to accept the city’s waste? It’s not a joke. If we have no place to
process wastewater, we have no drinkable water—it’s as simple as that.
Even though Petersburg has made up
part of what it owes, there’s no reason to suspect we may not be in the same
situation in two or three months. Why not just make a phone call or two? Maybe
the whole idea is a pipe dream, but it doesn’t hurt to ask.a
