NC0036684_NOVNOI2023LV0503_RESP_20230829

Carolina Water Service
of North Carolina'"
August 29, 2023
G. Landon Davidson, P.G.
Regional Supervisor
Water Quality Regional Operations Section
Asheville RO
DWR, NCDEQ
Re: NOV-2023-LV-0503 Response
NCO036684 — Bent Creek WWTP
Buncombe County
Mr. Davidson
In response to the Notice of Violation issued to our Bent Creek WWTP on July 26, 2023, and received August 15, 2023,
we offer the follow explanation.
In order to continue to provide high -quality effluent, the plant needed rehabilitation. Unfortunately, the exceedances of
our permitted ammonia limits occurred while the plant was being renovated. These upgrades include repairing the
concrete basins, installing filters, and UV disinfection. During the month of June, one of the two basins were drained for
the repairs and the wastewater was diverted to the other one. This caused an above normal amount of head pressure
which caused the blowers to relay out over the first weekend of June. As soon as the operations team were made
aware, they quickly got the blowers back online, but it still impacted the first sample of the month.
Although we could have pulled additional samples to lower the single outlier result, the operations team felt increasing
the air, while one basin was still out of service, would have likely resulted in elevating the TSS and Fecal levels.
Therefore, the plant was stabilized, and the rest of the ammonia results indicate it was a one-time exceedance.
As for a corrective action, a small amount of air will still be sent to the basin that's out of service to limit the pressure.
This will decrease the odds of the blowers failing in the future. Once the entire project is complete, which is scheduled
to be in 2025, we believe the upgrades will allow a higher quality effluent to be discharged consistently.
Our goal each day is to provide compliant effluent, and although we failed to meet that goal in June we have learned
from this incident and are committed to implementing changes to avoid a reoccurrence. If you have any questions or
concerns, please do not hesitate to contact any of us here at Carolina Water Service Inc. of North Carolina.
Sincerely, {' `
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Brent Milliron
Regulatory Compliance Manager
cc: Lauren Armeni, Environmental Specialist, NCDEQ
Gary Peacock, Director of Operations, CWSNC
Richard Dewayne Lightle, Area Manager, CWSNC
a 5821 Fairview Rd., Suite 401 • Charlotte, North Carolina 28209 • 800-525-7990