By RUSTY DENNEN
Lake Anna Plaza, at the foot of the State Route 208 Bridge in Louisa County, is a growing venue of lakeside commercial space, boat slips and townhouses.
Bob Propst, site supervisor for the developer, J.A. Snyder Entities Inc., says the company wants to be ready for future growth on the lake by updating and expanding a sewage treatment plant that serves the plaza area.
The Department of Environmental Quality is holding a public hearing Thursday night on the request, which has raised some larger questions, including: How much more treated sewage in Lake Anna is too much?
The developer, under the name Lake Anna Environmental Services, is asking that the 20,000 gallon-per-day limit of the previous permit be reissued for up to 99,000 gallons per day. The permit expired last fall.
One group critical of the proposal say that’s far too high, and that an alternative waste-treatment system, with no discharge into Lake Anna, would be a better solution.
“The increase is for future growth in the area. We’re hoping the economy will improve,” Propst said Tuesday, adding that work would not begin on the upgrade until the increased capacity is needed.
The treatment plant—built decades ago to serve the now-defunct Lake Anna Family Campground—had been discharging about 5,000 gallons per day of effluent into the lake.
Until a new permit is issued, waste from the plant is being pumped and hauled elsewhere for disposal.
Harry Ruth, a lake resident and president of Friends of Lake Anna, said the permit request raises concerns about future water quality. The lake was created in the 1970s by Dominion power to cool reactors at North Anna Power Station.
With the old permit limit, “They had plenty of room for expansion. Why go to 99,000 [gallons]?” said Ruth. “People that live at the lake don’t like any effluent going into the lake.”
Dominion is the only other entity with a permit to discharge treated sewage into Lake Anna—up to 30,000 gallons daily.
Ruth says his group has a number of concerns about the permit request—among them, that the previous permit holder was cited with numerous violations by DEQ and spills are inevitable. In addition, no-discharge technologies are available.
“Lake Anna is unique it’s self-contained. There is very little flow into it,” Ruth said, and that the effect of any spills would be magnified.
The 13,000-acre lake, he added, is a destination for anglers and boaters.
“Over 100 businesses, plus residents and guests from over 5,000 homes around the lake depend on these recreational activities.”
He says an alternative disposal system, such as one installed at a nearby Food Lion shopping center, should be considered. That system uses a large drain field instead of a treatment system.
Propst said the proposed plan is the best solution, and that Ruth is just stirring up trouble.
“I want to make it clear that Harry Ruth is not an organization. He is one person” orchestrating the opposition.
Propst said Ruth wrote letters to DEQ and other organizations that are “filled with inaccuracies.”
Ruth says he’s done his homework, and that he’s not against development around the lake.
Said Propst, “We want to do this the right way, and we’re abiding by the rules. What people miss is that the new regulations are much more stringent. We’ll be required to put in a much more modern system than we have [now].”
Ruth says regulators should cap discharge limits at 2011 levels, and allow no more discharges for new projects if the Lake Anna Environmental Services permit is reissued.
Another group, the Lake Anna Civic Association, has asked that specific requirements to the permit be added to protect the lake, such as backup generators.
Susan Mackert, of DEQ’s Northern Virginia Regional Office, said the agency’s preliminary recommendation is that the permit be reissued.
As for the developer considering an alternative system or other add-ons, “We don’t have the regulatory authority to force a permittee to consider those options,” she said.
Comments at the hearing will be weighed by the State Water Control Board, which will consider the permit request at its April 5–6 meeting.
The public hearing is scheduled for 7 p.m. in the Louisa County Middle School auditorium. An informal briefing, allowing for questions, will be held from 6 to 6:45 p.m.
Rusty Dennen: 540/374-5431
rdennen@freelancestar.com
