By DAVE HAMRICK
dhamrick@thecitizennews.com

Water quality in Whitewater Creek probably hasn't suffered in the current drought, says a state environmental official.

The city of Fayetteville's sewer plant discharges treated effluent into the creek, and overall flow has been reduced by drought, causing residents of the area to wonder whether sewage levels in the water have risen to the danger point.

But not to worry, says Jim Summerville, water quality official at the state Environmental Protection Division.

“Impact on the water in the stream should not be a factor,” said Summerville.

Local officials monitor the purity of sewer effluent that is released back into streams after being chemically treated, Summerville said, and send those monitoring reports to the EPD. If the effluent meets state and federal standards, then it's not likely to harm the water, he said.

But what if drought has lowered the stream level so much that the discharge from a sewer plant makes up a much larger percentage of the overall stream volume?

That's not a problem, said Summerville. When the state granted the city of Fayetteville a permit to discharge 3.75 million gallons of treated sewage a day into Whitewater Creek, he said, that permit is based on the seven-day low flow over a ten-year period.

That's a figure established by the U.S. Geological Survey and refers to extreme drought conditions, he said. “That's when the stream is at most risk,” he added. “You have to make sure the [sewage] that is being discharged won't cause a violation of water quality standards.”

Rick Eastin, Fayetteville's Water Department director, stated it more strongly: “The water we're putting back into Whitewater Creek is of a higher quality than what's in Whitewater Creek,” he said.

“The standards we have to operate under... the creek water would not pass the test that [treated sewage] has to go through,” he said.

If that changes, Summerville said, EPD officials will be on top of the situation.

“Our folks are out in the field keeping an eye on things,” he said.