Camden County, North Carolina
HUA prepared a county wide sewer feasibility study for Camden County. The study
identified areas feasible to construct a sewer system based on population
density and economics and rate analysis. The study concluded that central sewer
systems were feasible for the Camden Village and South Mills Village areas. The
study was written in a format which was utilized for grant applications from
various funding agencies.
The study provided a phased approach for construction of the Camden County
sewer systems. The first phase was identified as the Camden Village Core
Project consisting of the Highway 158 commercial corridor through Camden
Village, three schools, and the County complex area. This initial phase of the
Camden County Sewer System was estimated to cost $6.5 million.
Grant applications were made for the Camden Village Core Project to the Clean
Water Management Trust Fund and the North Carolina Rural Center Unsewered
Community funds. In the fall of 2002, a $3 million unsewered community grant
and a $2.6 million unsewered community grant were received. The local
contribution was $950,000 for a total of $6.55 million. The grant applications
prepared by HUA identified critical health needs in the area by working with
the local health dept to identify failing sewer systems as well as performing
in stream analysis of nearby water bodies to identify pollutants resulting from
these failing sewer systems.
The grants received for the first phase of the county sewer will construct
infrastructure in the Camden Village area, a wastewater treatment facility, and
spray irrigation system. The collection system consists of 8 inch gravity along
Hwy 158 through Camden Village and pump stations and force mains to serve the
remote schools in the county and the administration complex. Sewer will be
pumped to the wastewater treatment plant site located north of South Mills. The
treatment plant is a 120,000 GPD facility consisting of aeration,
clarification, and tertiary treatment which treat the wastewater to reuse
quality standards. The facilities also consist of storage with a 5 day upset
lagoon and a 45 day storage lagoon. Effluent is applied to a tree farm which
will utilize ash trees. The initial phase will consist of approximately 50
acres of wetted area capable to expanding of 350 acres of wetted area.
This project was innovative in that the treatment process provided reuse
standard treatment allowing the effluent to be applied to areas such as ball
fields, golf courses, or residential/commercial lawn irrigation. Our initial
phase will not only use the tree farm for treatment but the County has been
approved by NCDOT to land apply a portion of the effluent along the US Highway
17 median from the Virginia state line to South Mills. This is one of the first
such undertakings by DOT and will serve as a pilot/test area for the
possibility of special landscaping and expansion of the procedure to other
areas of the state.
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