Worcester County officials are still trying to figure out how to handle a request from a neighboring jurisdiction to temporarily treat its sewage at a local wastewater treatment plant.
The City of Fruitland in February asked Pocomoke City for an emergency authorization to use its wastewater treatment plant to handle liquid sludge, a process that involves leaving treated sewage outside to dry. The reason for the request is that, at the Fruitland facility, the drying beds for handling liquid waste don’t operate well in cold weather.
Fruitland needed this arrangement temporarily and they were unable to send the sludge to Salisbury as usual.
The deal between Fruitland and Pocomoke would help Fruitland manage sludge while upgrading its facilities, according to Bob Mitchell, Worcester County’s director of environmental programs.
“They certainly don’t want to haul to Pocomoke. It’s out of their way and it’s long-distance. It’s really to help them until they upgrade their sludge drying beds to the capacity that they can operate in wet winter weather,” Mitchell told the county’s Board of Commissioners at its March 4 meeting.
Mitchell raised the issue to get a letter of “no objection” from the commissioners. Under state law, Mitchell said he must ask the county government if they have any objections before state environment officials gives Fruitland the green light to transport sludge.
He added that Fruitland already has a mutual aid agreement with Pocomoke City, and Pocomoke’s sewage treatment plan does have the capacity to handle the overage from Fruitland.
Commissioner Chip Bertino moved to approve the requested no-objection letter – but that’s when the agenda item went from boilerplate approval to lively conversation.
District 1 Commissioner Caryn Abbott, who represents Pocomoke City, raised concerns about the county’s infrastructure capacity as it relates to economic development in her district. She pointed out that the county had been marketing new residential development efforts, but also said she lacked clear information on capacity for wastewater infrastructure.
“We’re working a lot to bring businesses and homes to the area, and we have no clue what capacity we have, what the infrastructure’s like,” Abbott said. “I think that the county needs to have that information, especially with the money and the time we’re spending on marketing to Wallops and other places for development in the south end of the county but with no help with answers from [the town of] Pocomoke.”
” The City of Fruitland in February ” So they ask in February when the temperatures are beginning to rise.
Is there a big temperature difference between the City of Fruitland and Pocomoke City ?
Maybe its time for the City of Fruitland / southern Wicomico County to quit building new houses until they can upgrade the sewage treatment plant to handle all the additional waste.