Received today from Valdosta City Council Tim Carroll, who
sent it to a long list of people,
apparently responding to
the VDT's recent article and editorials.
All,
During my tenure as a city councilman, I have tried to keep everyone
updated on events and issues with our city. I want to share and
email I sent out recently that hopefully you will agree is important
information. In regards to today's paper — the story has some
serious errors and omissions. First of all in 2009- all we saved
from the flood was the pump station. No sewage treatment was taking
place and contrary to what the VDT says, then as we are now —
raw sewage was going into the river. It lasted about a month in
2009. With the decision to pull equipment/tanks etc so they would
not be destroyed this year — we not only saved a lot of tax
payer money….but we will be able to bring the plant back on line
in about a week. Reducing by several weeks the amount of sewage
going into the river. In regards to city water systems being
compromised — considering our water plant is 10-15 miles north
of the WWTP and the amazing fact that the river flows south —
your water is completely safe. Do we like discharging raw sewage
into the river? Of course not. During the flood it was going to
happen either way.
I want to add one other note — the men and women in our
Utility department, fire, police, sanitation, engineering etc, etc
have been working long days this past week trying to manage flooding
issues. They deserve our thanks. It is very frustrating for those
whose homes and businesses were threatened by the flood. It is very
frustrating to our city employees who have worked so hard to manage
this crisis.
So as Paul Harvey says — “here is the rest of the
story”.
I think Council Carroll is a bit cavalier about
the city's wells being upstream of the wastewater treatment plant,
because while the river may flow south, it's not clear how
the Floridan Aquifer flows, especially with multiple 800 foot
deep wells sucking water out of it.
Also I wonder what people downstream of the Withlacoochee Wastewater
Treatment Plant think of all that raw sewage coming down at them,
especially considering some of them have wells downstream.
However, he makes a number of points that the VDT omitted,
including a plan to do something about the situation,
and appended is his "rest of the story".
Continue reading →
Some interesting questions have come up in
Gabe Fisher's continuing correspondence with the City of Valdosta
about
sewage in his back yard
and
under his house,
while
City Council Tim Carroll continues to respond,
both copying a long list of people.
