NC0025321_NOV2017PC0687 Response Letter_20171109

Gavin Brown, Mayor Robert Hites Jr., Town Manager
Gary Caldwell, Mayor Pro Tem Bill Cannon, Town Attorney
Jon Feichter, Alderman
Julia Freeman, Alderman
LeRoy Roberson, Alderman

Landon Davidson, P.G., Regional Supervisor November 7, 2017
Water Quality Regional Operations Section
Asheville Regional Office
Division of Water Resources, NCDEQ

SUBJECT: Re: Notice of Violation
Tracking Number: NOV-2017-PC-0687
Unauthorized Bypass
Permit No. NC0025321
County: Haywood

Mr. Davidson,

This letter is in response to the above referenced subject line; in which partially untreated sewage spilled
into Richland Creek. As noted in the inspection report, NCDEQ’s NOV letter and onsite with Mikal Willmer
and Tim Heims, this unauthorized bypass was at the cause of a blown transformer belonging to our power
provider Duke Energy. Once power was off, the Town’s backup generator kicked on and ran for approximately
six hours until controls in the generator malfunction and failed, leaving the plant without power.

Moving forward, the Town has reached out to Duke Energy to discuss their response time to the plant
and have asked for an improvement on future issues such as these. The plant’s backup generator will be
replaced and maintained regularly with no change in protocol as it is already tested under load twice a year.
Also, the Town has commissioned a private engineering firm to study the feasibly of running power from
Waynesville to the WWTP so that the plant can be served power by the Town of Waynesville and not have to
rely on a third party contractor for power outage issues.

Please accept this response as our formal request to forgive any intent to assess civil penalty as
we work through ways to improve our process and daily operations.

Thank You,
Preston Gregg
Preston Gregg, PE
Town Engineer

Ec: David Foster, Public Services Director
Ronnie Norris, Wastewater Plant Superintendent
Robert Hites Jr., Town Manager
Amie Owens, Assistant Town Manager

129 Legion Dr. · P.O. Box 100 · Waynesville, NC 28786 Phone [phone] Fax [phone]
Web Address: www.waynesvillenc.gov