LOW facing sewer-rate hike

BY ROBIN KNEPPER

Sewer rates at Lake of the Woods will increase $7 a month per lot to cover improvements to the subdivision's vacuum collection system.

Under an agreement between the Rapidan Service Authority and the state Department of Environmental Quality, RSA will spend $350,000 a year--the amount raised by the increase--on capital improvements to continually upgrade the troublesome LOW system.

The rate increase, the first at LOW since March 2001, was approved unanimously by the RSA board of directors yesterday. The LOW board of directors has issued a statement supporting the "cost-effective solution to the issue raised in 2003."

RSA receives and responds to one or two calls a day from LOW residents who report sewage overflows. The problem drew scrutiny from state and federal environmental agencies after one resident's complaint led to a newspaper report five years ago.

Although that resident was found to have deliberately caused his problem, RSA and DEQ entered into a consent order that required RSA to hire an engineering firm to evaluate the vacuum collection system and to estimate the cost of replacing it.

The study noted that the topography at LOW is not suited for a vacuum collection system. Such systems work efficiently only on level ground.

The report also found that RSA was operating and maintaining the system well beyond what could normally be expected for such a system, according to RSA General Manager Dudley Pattie.

The estimated cost at that time to replace the vacuum system was $120 million. The agreement between RSA and DEQ calls for continual yearly improvements instead, with no end date.

Pattie explained the agreement at an LOW board workshop Wednesday. Several residents in attendance told of their overflow problems and were reassured by Pattie and Supervisor Lee Frame, a member of the RSA board, that all issues would be addressed.

"We wish to express our sincere appreciation to RSA and Dudley Pattie for their efforts in working with DEQ," LOW Association President Eldon Rucker wrote in a statement on behalf of the board. "The proposed agreement to allocate specific funds each year for various improvements to the current system will ensure continuations of quality operations."

A public-information hearing on the rate increase will be held within 60 days, after which the RSA board will vote again on the rate increase. The new rates are expected to go into effect in early 2009.

Robin Knepper: 540/972-5701
Email: rknepper@earthlink.net

Rate increase

Sewer rates for all lots in Lake of the Woods will increase by $7 a month. The minimum monthly charge will go from $24.70 to $31.70. The sewer nonuser fee (for vacant lots) will go from $10 a month to $17.

The total water and sewer minimum charge will go from $33.86 a month to $40.86.

There are 4,224 rate payers at Lake of the Woods and 585 vacant lots.

PLANS FOR IMPROVING SYSTEM

RSA General Manager Dudley Pattie has presented several plans to improve the vacuum-sewer collection system at Lake of the Woods. They include: TANKS: RSA will replace, as necessary, old and porous concrete collection tanks with plastic tanks. The porous tanks, mainly on lakefront lots, allow groundwater and lake water to overburden the processing system. This process will not disrupt service. PUMPS: Water-cooled vacuum pumps will be replaced with air-cooled pumps in LOW's 13 pump stations. RSA's Wilderness plant provides the water to cool the existing pumps and the water then goes into the sewage-collection system. Each pump station has two or three back-up pumps, a redundancy required by the state.

"Either of these efforts will eliminate unnecessary water from going into the vacuum collection system," said Pattie in an interview last week. "It will free up capacity and let the system do its job of collecting sewage, not water."

VALVES AND LINES: There are also sections of lines in LOW where aged fittings break apart and decrease vacuum pressure downstream. Weak sections of pipe will be replaced. RSA will also replace, as necessary, the electrical vacuum valves in the lines. Additional proposals will address weak vacuum lines and improperly installed lines.

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Date published: 8/22/2008

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