NC0081736_NOV-2019-LV-0226 Response_20190410

PENDER COUNTY UTILITIES Kenneth Keel, PE, Director
,•�%�T 605 E. Fremont Street
P C U P.O. Box 995
P do County Utilities
m ,hd,oQa;;,y Burgaw, NC 28425
Phone - 910.259.1570
Fax - 910.259.1579
April 10, 2019
RE: US 421 WWTF
Permit # NCO081736
NOV-2019-LV-0226
Response
Ms. Morella Sanchez -King, Regional Supervisor
NCDEQ-Division of Water Resources
127 Cardinal Drive Extension
Wilmington, NC 28405
Ms. Sanchez -King,
This letter is in response to the March 26, 2019 notice of violation (NOV-2019-LV-0226)
received on April 4th for the Pender County wastewater treatment facility at US 421 (Pender
Commerce Park). In January 2019, the facility was continuing to recover from the
equipment failure that occurred in early December 2018. In order to reseed our plant
following this malfunction, we purchased 6,000 gallons of activated sludge from the
northside CFPUA wastewater treatment plant on January 9th. With this infusion of biological
material, we saw a big increase in our BOD, TSS, and ammonia -nitrogen numbers
immediately following that date, but then the plant began to turn around in the following
couple of weeks.
To recap the problems which caused our December and January violations, we had a check
valve stick open on our RAS pump station which allowed RAS to bypass the MBBR and
SFFR, then go straight in to the clarifier. The check valve that failed is down in a vault, and
the first time it was inspected we did not realize the extent of the problem. We estimate that
the check valve failure initially occurred around December 1st. We attempted to repair the
check valve on December 7th and thought that it was fixed at that time. However, our repair
did not work, and the bypass continued. On December 20th, we realized the check valve was
still failing, and we performed a complete repair on the unit. This valve failure is what
caused the TSS, BOD, and ammonia -nitrogen violations in December, with the recovery
period continuing into January.
Looking to the future, we are actively working on adding media to our MBBR. We feel this
will make a big difference in the quality of our effluent. We have already added some media
and hope to complete this process later this month. The media was originally intended for
our treatment process, but the consultant recommended against using it initially due to the
very low flow received. Now that the flow has increased somewhat, and due to the issues we
have experience with permit compliance, we are proceeding with this addition now.

NOV response to Ms. Sanchez -King
April 10, 2019
Page 2
Thank you for your consideration of these factors contributing to our non-compliance.
Please let me know if you have any questions or require additional information.
Sincerely,
kcf - I1/"q
Kenneth P. Keel, PE
Director
Cc: Dean Hunkele, Senior Environmental Specialist
Randell Woodruff, County Manager
Chad McEwen, Asst. County Manager
Kurt Lonander, PCP_WWTF Superintendent
File