Snowshoe Sewage Ponds In Good Shape For Now

Snowshoe, WV – Potesta Engineering Consultant Dave Sharp says the Snowshoe sewage treatment lagoons are in good shape at the moment. At the Pocahontas County Public Service District meeting last Thursday, Sharp discussed the results of some test drillings taken at the existing Snowshoe sewage treatment facilities.

“Basically what we found out that the stability anaylsis, the generally accepted industry standard is to have a factor of safety against failure of at least 1 ” says Sharp. “In most cases, we were actually above a 1.5 [and] in every case on the primary lagoon embankment.”

Sharp says they took a total of seven borings – four at the main treatment lagoon, one at the polishing pond, and two around the equalization tank. Sharp says the concern is that the ponds aren’t lined, and water seeping through the ground could cause stability problems in the embankments in the future. He recommends that if the lagoon will continue to be used in sewage treatment, that the PSD consider putting a liner in the lagoon.

However, given the size of the lagoon, the cost could be well over one hundred thousand dollars. And PSD Sewer Manager Lloyd Coleman says that cost doesn’t include reinforcement of the embankment if needed.

In other business, the PSD also discussed their right of way at the bottom of the mountain for future sewer lines. There may be a potential conflict with the Cheat Mountain Water Company, a private utility at Snowshoe. Coleman says he believes they are planning to lay new water lines.

Since any future sewer lines would have to be located a minimum distance away from the water lines, this could cause problems for future sewage service in the Linwood area. PSD board chairman Tom Shipley asked attorney Chris Negley to do some research into exactly where the PSD’s right of way is located.

Water Plant manager Ricky Barkley told the board that he may have a buyer for a couple of used self-contained filters left over from the old water plant at Frank. He told the board they are no longer in use. Board chairman Shipley asked Barkley to obtain an offer from the interested buyer for consideration at the next regular meeting.