WQ0004115_2001 Annual Report_20020220

CHAMPION ��S
PROPERTY OWNERS ASSOCIATION, INC.
February 20, 2002
System Performance Annual
NCDENR-DWQ
1617 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-1617
Re: 2001 Annual Redbrt
Champion Hills Go
Henderson County, NC
Permit No. W00004115
Gentlemen:
FES 2 8 2002 1'
D
FEg 2 2 2002
WASER QUALITY
DENR -SOURCE BRANCH
POINT � .
In accordance with state of North Carolina's requirements,,. we are pleased to attach three copies
of our Wastewater System Annual Report for calendar year 2001. As indicated in this report, all
property owners of Champion Hills Golf Community will be notified of the report's availability
through the February issue of the community's monthly newsletter. The newsletter will state:
The State of North Carolina requires all permittees for wastewater systems to
make reports available to their users summarizing their systems' performance over the
past twelve months. The purpose of this requirement is to provide a mechanism for user
oversight and, hopefully, instill confidence in the system and its operators.
In addition, the State requires all permittees to adopt and implement a sewer
ordinance for all users of the system. The Champion Hills Sewer Ordinance was
implemented on July 1, 1999 and is periodically updated as necessary.
Both the Champion Hills' Performance Report for calendar year 2001 and the current
Sewer Ordinance are now available from the Club office and can be obtained by stopping
in or by calling Jessica at [phone] to receive copies by mail.
Please'advise if you have any questions or comments. --
Sincerely, ..
Lee Weber
Chairman, ,Champion Hills W WS Committee
Cc. with attachment �r��'q�/�1-9,
DENR-DWQ, Asheville — Mr. Roy Davis C'q 6" .
�a�a c �0,
F�
I - HAGEN DRIVE / HENDERSONVILLE, NC 28739-8964 / [phone] / FAX (828) 696-Y097
E-MAIL - [e-mail]

Champion Dills Property Owners Association
Year 2001 Wastewater System Annual Report
The Champion Hills Wastewater System is authorized by the North Carolina
Department of Environment and Natural Resources - Division of Water Quality
(NCDENR-DWQ) and operates under -Permit No. WQ0004115 dated November 30,
1999. This Permit defines the conditions under which the Champion Hills' Property
Owners Association (POA) must operate the system and exposes the POA to substantial
fines if it does not comply. The current Permit expires October 31, 2004, and is
renewable and subject to change thereafter.
In 1999, the State of North Carolina passed legislation requiring. all entities that
own or operate wastewater treatment and collection systems to provide annual reports to
their customers describing the systems and summarizing their performance over the past
twelve. month period.. -:The purpose of this legislation is to provide a mechanism for user
oversight and, hopefully, instill confidence in the system and its.operators. This report for
calendar year 2001 has been prepared in compliance with this requirement.
Description of Systems:
. The Champion Hills' Wastewater System is made up of a Collection System, a
Treatment System and a Disposal System. The Collection and Treatment Systems are
owned and operated by the Champion Hills POA. The Disposal System.is owned and
operated by the Champion Hills Club under a formal Agreement with the POA.
The Collection System consists.of approximately 62,500 linear feet of eight inch
diameter PVC sewer_lines, approximately 460 manholes, 8 lift stations and miscellaneous
items such as standby generators, force mains, telemetry, spare parts, etc. As its name
implies, the collection system collects the wastewater from the community and transports
it to the treatment plant for processing.
The Treatment System is located on a 2.86-acre plot adjacent to the 16'h fairway.
It consists of a treatment plant, two lift stations, a 700,000 gallon lined effluent holding
pond, an equipment building and a standby generator. The operation of this system is
subcontracted to a state -licensed operator; James and James Environmental Management.
Under the terms of the permit, the operator, must visit the facility daily (excluding
weekends and holidays) and properly manage and document daily operations, including
all testing, reporting and other permit requirements.
The treatment plant is the "heart" of the Treatment System. It has a current
throughput capacity of 70,000 gallons of wastewater per day, but is expandable to.
140,000. Raw sewage (influent) enters the plant at the Equalization basin through a 4
inchlinefrom the influent lift station. It is then parceled into one of two 35,000 gpd
process trains, each consisting of an Aeration tank followed by a Clarifier. From the
Clarifier, it flows through a Filter and finally to a Chlorination 'Basin. The treated water

(effluent) leaves the Chlorination Basin by gravity to a lift station where it is pumped to
the 700,000 gallon holding pond for eventual use in irrigating the golf course.
- The Disposal System is essentially the golf course irrigation system. As required
by our permit, effluent is pumped from the holding pond by the club's state trained and
licensed irrigation system operators and applied to the golf course through "selected"
sprinklers. The effluent irrigates the grass and then either evaporates or is filtered again
through the soil before entering the ground water system and streams. Few other
wastewater systems have the ability to perform this final filtering operation.
Unfortunately, this golf course application procedure is problematic during .
winter months when the ground or sprinkler system is frozen or covered with ice and
snow. Consequently, we have asked the State for permission to discharge effluent into a
nearby, stream during winter conditions. We anticipate receiving the States permission to
proceed in early 2002.Our effluent, of course, is "treated household wastewater" and is
of better quality than that most municipalities and cities release directly to streams and
rivers on a year round basis. As local streams are generally full during winter months and
our community production of wastewater substantially reduced, we are confident this
procedure will have no harmful environmental effect.
2001 Performance
2001 was good year operation wise, but somewhat expensive. We exceeded our
operational budget of $74,000 by almost $10,000 and spent approximately $53,000 for
capital improvements and equipment replacements. For the most part, the capital
expenditures were anticipated and are discussed later in this report. The operating budget
overrun was primarily due to emergency equipment repairs and a low estimate for
"sludge" removal from the plant. A large portion of the emergency repairs resulted from
a lightning strike to one of our lift station control panels.
- During the later part of 2001, the Champion Hills' golf course maintenance
department assumed theresponsibilities for managing and maintaining the entire
Wastewater System. Prior to that time, the Collection and Treatment Systems were
looked after by the Club's General Maintenance Supervisor, while the golf course
maintenance department -handled the Disposal System only. This change significantly
improves the POA's ability to respond to emergencies by reducing its reliance on outside
contractors, while at the same time, allowing us to handle day to day operations and
maintenance more efficiently and reliably. The golf course maintenance department is
well versed in the operation of generators, pumps, pipes, valves, controls, electrical
connections.and components and has a variety of equipment with operators at its disposal
to handle this work. Andy Zima, who is responsible for the golf course irrigation system,
has been given the additional duties of Wastewater Systems Supervisor under the
direction of Saeed Assadzandi, our Golf Course Superintendent.

fry �• - j���
�. 2001 Problems / Deficiencies / Accomplishments: During the past year, we
encountered and addressed a number of problems that needed prompt attention and
addressed other issues that may help us perform better in the future:
A. We continue to experience "Inflow & Infiltration" (I&I) to our collection
system during periods of heavy or extended rain. Although the quantity of
I&I is not unusual for a system of our size, it does represent a significant
portion of our treatment plant's capacity and can occasionally upset the
treatment .process.
Finding and correcting sources of I&I remains a priority of our operations.
We made good progress in 2000 and 2001 and will continue these efforts
in 2002. The work involves raising manholes, realigning manhole frames,
sealing manhole or lift station seams, fixing broken riser pipes, installing
manhole "dishes", etc. Each year, we walk the entire sewer line, pulling all
manhole covers, in search of these potential sources of I&I.
B. Last January, the PVC. liner in our 700,000 gallon effluent pond failed. _
The actual failure was caused by ice,movement in the pond, but the liner
had been deteriorating and was already near the end of its life cycle. PVC
is only expected to last 7 or 8 years. We replaced the liner using 40 mils of
medium density polyethylene (MDPE) at a total cost of about $35,000.
MDPE has a life expectancy of about 25 years.
C. Another major project carried out in 2001, was the changing of our.
Tertiary filter media at a cost of approximately $8,000. The filter media is
a combination of a special sand and pulverized anthracite coal. After 7 or
8 years of use, it becomes worn and must be replaced.
D. As mentioned earlier, our collection system includes 8 lift stations. (A lift _
station is -basically a well with two pumps and various controls. Raw
sewage flows downhill through a system of pipes and manholes until it
reaches a low -point where it collects in the well of a lift station. It is then
pumped to the top of the next hill and continues its journey downhill to the
next lift station or until it reaches the wastewater treatment plant). Should
the pumps in a lift station fail to operate for some reason, such as a power
outage, the lift station will fill and overflow. Raw sewage "Spills", of
course, are harmful to the environment and must be prevented to the best
of our ability. Lift stations are equipped with high level alarms that sound
and flash when the station is dangerously full. However, some stations are
remote and the alarms may not be heard or seen quickly. As a precaution,
the champion Hills security force drives by and checks the alarm status, on
a daily basis. However, the NCDENR-DWQ also strongly recommends
that "Telemetry" be installed at all such stations. Telemetry is a radio or
telephone device that automatically calls someone (in our case, Security)
in the event of a problem.

In year 2000, we installed telemetry at our two most remote stations at a
total cost of approximately $5,000. In year 2001, we installed two more
units at roughly the same cost. The four remaining stations are located
adjacent to well traveled roads or areas and are highly visible. However, to
comply with State recommendations, we plan to proceed with the
remaining units in 2002.
E. During 1999, the Champion Hills POA developed, implemented and
distributed a Sewer Ordinance for the community. The ordinance has
recently been revised. Property owners wanting an updated version of this
document should contact Jessica at the Club's Administratiori office.
F. We continue to experience problems from various types of debris entering
our system, such as rags, rubber gloves, cans, bottles, rocks and dirt. Such
items clog the pipes "and ruin the pumps. We suspect that a substantial
portion of this debris comes from new home construction. During 2001,
we instituted a requirement that all new home tie-ins to the sewer system
be made by a POA approved contractor.
2. Sewage Spills: The NCDENR-DWQ requires that we notify them immediately of
sewage spills of any size which reach surface waters (i.e. streams, drainage ditches;
etc.) or spills of 1,000 gallons or greater regardless of whether they are contained. We
are pleased to advise that we had no reportable spills in year 2001. However, we did
have one non -reportable spill as follows:
On April 20 (Friday night) and again on Sunday, April 22, a manhole overflowed
on Wild Ivy Run. When responding on Friday, we discovered that rocks and dirt
had blocked a down stream pipe, backing up the sewage and causing the
overflow. The blockage was broken and the sewer quickly drained. On the
following Sunday the.blockage reoccurred. Again, the blockage was broken
allowing the sewage to flow, but this time we knew we had a break in the sewer
line allowing the debris to enter. The break was found the following day using TV
camera technology. Apparently Duke Power had cut through the top of
approximately seven feet of our sewer line when installing their cable. The repair
was completed April 24 and Duke Power eventually reimbursed us for our costs.
As the spills were found and acted upon quickly, they did not approach reportable
conditions.
3. Permit Violations: As previously mentioned, the operation of the Treatment. System
is contracted to James & James Environmental Management (JBr,J) of Hendersonville.
J&J visits the site five days a week to, among other things, assure that the plant is
operating properly or make necessary process adjustments, perform the required
testing and prepare the necessary reports. Occasionally, J&J finds that something has
gone wrong and the. effluent does not meet the requirements of our permit. Such
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"permit violations" must be reported to the State. We are pleased to advise that year
2001 had only one permit violation as follows:
Date Type of Violation Sample reading Max Allowed
6/5/01 Ammonia Nitrogen 6.6 mg/1 6.0 mg/1
The foregoing violation was of a daily limit. All monthly average limits were
compliant. Tbis, indeed, was a commendable performance by our contractor.
Notification and Certification:
All Champion Hills' Property Owners and/or Club Members will be
notified in the February 2002 issue of the .Champion Hills' monthly
publication "Echoes" that this report will be available through the Champion
Hills' Club Administration Office by either stopping in to pick up a copy or by calling
[phone] to receive one by mail.
I certifythat this report is complete and accurate to the best of my
knowledge. Any questions pertaining to it should be directed to me at
the address or telephone number listed below.
Lee J Weber, Chairman
Champion Hills WWS Committee
4 Barnes Court
Hendersonville, NC 28739
[phone]
Issue Date: February 22, 2002
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