Brunswick nonprofit calls for halt to construction to fix sewage leaks

BRUNSWICK COUNTY – A local nonprofit is calling on Brunswick County officials to impose a moratorium on new construction, saying a series of sewage leaks in the wake of Tropical Storm Debby show that growth is outpacing residents' infrastructure needs.

READ MORE: Nearly 30,000 gallons of raw wastewater released in Brunswick County

ALSO: DEQ grants Brunswick County a pause on wastewater moratorium, allows flow permits

Christie Marek, founder of the Brunswick County Conservation Partnership, presented a list of recent sewage leaks to the Planning Board at its Aug. 12 meeting. She called for a construction moratorium to ensure infrastructure can meet demand, negative impacts of growth are addressed and time is allowed for bacterial testing.

“We are not against growth and all developers,” Marek said at the meeting. “We are against irresponsible development that poses a health and safety risk to our community. Right now, our county is in a state of emergency.”

Marek’s list of sewage leaks includes more than 900,000 gallons released in August of this year alone:

• On August 9, approximately 830,000 to 860,000 cubic feet of disinfected and partially treated wastewater from the West Brunswick Regional Water Reclamation Facility was discharged into an on-site stormwater detention basin. The basin drains into a tributary of the Lockwood Folly River.
• On August 9, 30,000 tons of untreated wastewater were discharged from the Sea Trail Wastewater Treatment Plant into a tributary of the Calabash River.
• 1,500 gallons of raw sewage from a leak in a pressure main in Ocean Isle Beach spilled into a tributary of the Shallotte River on August 4
• 1,000 gallons of raw sewage discharged into a stormwater detention pond near Dunrobin Point Southeast in Ocean Isle, which flows into a tributary of the Shallotte River on August 9.

Brunswick H2GO – which serves a sanitation district that includes Leland, Belville, Navassa and unincorporated parts of the northeastern part of the county – also reported discharges from Tropical Storm Debby, including 69,000 gallons of partially treated wastewater into the Brunswick River on Aug. 8.

The City of Shallotte reported a discharge of 1,600 gallons of raw sewage on August 13—some of which flowed into the Shallotte River—and a discharge of 12,150 gallons of raw sewage into a dry ditch on August 17.

A 2014 state law requires public disclosure of overflows of untreated sewage over 1,000 gallons. The county reported a total of 141,450 gallons of sewage overflows in its 2022-2023 report, 345,500 gallons in 2021-2022 and 374,500 gallons in 2020-2021.

“Past and present wastewater employees have told me our pumps are at capacity,” Marek said. “Every time they catch up, a new housing project gets approved. We need a moratorium now.”

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, sewer overflows occur occasionally in most wastewater systems, but frequent overflows indicate a systemic problem. The EPA notes that many preventable overflows can be caused by improper system maintenance and inadequate capacity.

PCD has reached out to Brunswick County to ask how many gallons of wastewater have spilled into the county this year and whether officials believe recent overflows are due to inadequate capacity, but has not received a response from the press; the county's 2023-2024 annual wastewater performance report will be released Friday.

Bob Walker, general manager of Brunswick H2GO, told Port City Daily he does not believe the recent sewer overflows were due to overdevelopment.

“Unfortunately, that's just the area we're in,” he said. “We're getting a foot of rain and everything is under water.”

Walker said he couldn't speak for Brunswick County Utilities, which provides service in a different region, but estimated H2GO still has five to seven years to reach 90% of capacity for its system. He argued that the quality of the utility's preventive maintenance programs is a bigger factor in sewer overflows than capacity.

Navassa Mayor Eulis Willis told PCD he is advocating that the county conduct an engineering assessment to determine whether sewer overflows justify halting construction.

The waters into which wastewater was recently discharged – Brunswick River, Calabash River, Lockwood Folly River and Shallotte River – have been added to DEQ's draft list of impaired waters for 2024.

Marek noted that testing is being done at a number of sites that have recently been contaminated. Three lakes in Boiling Springs were closed on Aug. 14 due to high bacteria levels. The North Carolina Department of Environmental Conservation maintains a cautionary warning against swimming in Caswell Lake — although the warning has been lifted for most other shoreline sites — because bacteria levels exceed safe levels. Oak Island also had a warning for bacteria levels before it was lifted in July.

Brunswick has experienced a construction freeze due to overburdened wastewater infrastructure before. In June 2019, the DEQ imposed a three-month moratorium on sewer lines at Brunswick's northern wastewater treatment plant after issuing the plant a misdemeanor for operating at 110% of state-approved capacity—it was only allowed to treat 2.475 million gallons of wastewater per day at the time. To meet the infrastructure needs created by Brunswick's rapid population growth, the county's wastewater master plan calls for quadrupling that number to a capacity of 8.725 million gallons per day by 2025.

A study conducted in December 2023 by contractor Remington & Vernick Engineers recommended increasing the maximum system impact fee – a one-time fee for newly approved construction projects to connect to the county's utilities – to fund needed expansions of the county's wastewater infrastructure.

“The county’s available capacity and service life is limited or nonexistent to serve existing and new customers,” the study says.

RVE found that Brunswick County could more than double sewer upgrade fees from the current $1,000 for a one-bedroom apartment to $2,172.

Commissioners agreed to increase per-bedroom fees in the 2025 budget. Developers will pay $1,478 beginning in January 2025 before that amount increases to $1,956 in July 2025.

Marek expressed concern to Port City Daily that the updated fees would not apply to construction projects that were approved but not implemented by year's end.

She also pointed to the Planning Board's unanimous approval on Aug. 12 to rezone 1,991 acres previously in Southport's extraterritorial jurisdiction — which she urged to be moved after calling for a moratorium — because it would likely further exacerbate the county's sewage problems. The county took control of Southport's zoning on July 1 after the passage of HB 911, sponsored by Rep. Charles Miller (R-Brunswick).

“They're going to rezone it for high density, so of course there's going to be growth right after that,” she told Port City Daily.

Tips or comments? Email reporter Peter Castagno at [email protected].

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