Fremont sewer, drought - Wayne-Wilson News Leader, Fremont, NC

25 October 2007 — While the town of Fremont is in the last stages of a sewer repair project that will reduce rainwater infiltration and hopefully the cost of sending sewer to Goldsboro, some citizens wonder if it wouldn't be better for the town to stop relying on Goldsboro entirely.

At the board's October meeting, Andy Evans questioned a chart showing the amount of sewage being pumped into the system compared to the amount being sent to Goldsboro. The chart showed a spike on the few days that it had rained in the past month, and Mr. Evans questioned just how much good the repairs were doing if the town was still seeing spikes like that.

Town Manager Kerry McDuffie explained that each month when the public works department produces such a graph, the highest point for that month is the highest point on the scale. Therefore, what appears to be a big spike in a monthly chart may be just a bump on a year-long map.

"If you put an entire year on one graph, this isn't a big increase at all," he said. "We've seen much larger spikes."

But he added that the town will not really be able to see how well the repairs affect the sewer bill from Goldsboro until the drought ends.

Mr. Evans and several other citizens expressed interest in the possibility of the town becoming self-sufficient in handling its own sewer, rather than sending it to Goldsboro for treatment. Proposals included the spray field project that is in the works, as well as a treatment facility for the municipalities in the northern end of the county.

Mr. McDuffie said that the town was working on ways to deal with some if its own waste, including a proposed spray field project. The project is currently still under consideration, because a final report estimating the cost and feasibility of the spray field is still under preparation.

However, he said that a preliminary report estimated that the project could be completed for around $525,000. The proposed spray field would allow the town to apply around 160,000 gallons of waste water each year over 40 acres of land.

With those numbers, he said, the town would still need to stay hooked up to Goldsboro for the treatment of some of their wastewater.

"We would have the ability to treat our own, but we would also have Goldsboro as a back-up," he said.

He said that if the state approved the plan, which he has high hopes for, the town would be in an ideal position.

"Fremont could end up in a really good position, with the best of both worlds," he said.

In another effort to put Fremont in an ideal position, Alderman Leon Mooring questioned the status of the old town well.

Tim Howell, public works director, said that water had been taken from the well about a year ago, but no one had checked on it since then. However, he said the well is very deep and felt certain that it still had water.

Mr. Mooring then asked if it would be possible to take water from the well for things like watering, but not necessarily drinking water. Mr. Howell said that at this time, the water wasn't any good for drinking but could be used for other things.

The board then inquired if it could get to a point that it could be used for drinking water again, should the drought worsen in the area.

Mr. Howell said the well primarily needed some electrical work on the pump. The board then recommended that Mr. McDuffie investigate sources of grant money to get the well back on line.

"You never know when you might need it, and it could put us in a good place to have another source of water," said Mr. Mooring.

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