BREAKING: MSD Sewage Spill (Western NC)

[G_j]

Source: WLOS

BREAKING: MSD Sewage Spill

Apr 30, 2013

Millions of gallons of raw sewage are flowing into the French Broad River from a sewer plant in Buncombe County.

Engineers say it started shortly after 8am this morning after an equipment failure.

Workers for a contractor were replacing a $1,000 pump at the plant when a gate blew up because of the pressure.

It hit a worker, injuring him, but we are told the injury is not life-threatening.

The gate failure diverted raw sewage coming into the plant into the French Broad.

Several manhole covers have blown off close to the plant because of the back-up and engineers are warning people to stay away from those sewer covers.

..more..

Read more: http://m.wlos.com/article?id=9388751&categoryid=277&election=&provider=

[Enrique]

1. that stinks n/t

[G_j]

2. I had previous plans to hike

to this river today..

[mindwalker_i]

3. Well, that one dude got s***faced

glad he wasn't injured.

[bushisanidiot]

4. How odd. Something very similar is happening in St. Louis. Raw sewage is flowing into

into the Mississippi.

http://www.kmov.com/news/mobile/Raw-sewage-still-flowing-into-Mississippi-River-205201401.html

[ChairmanAgnostic]

6. how can they tell?

[kimbutgar]

5. This what happens when you ignore your infastructure

Where I live our sewage treatment plant gives tours (of which I took) It was fascinating and I feel confident we wouldn't have an incidence like this as the people are unionized workers who take pride in their work and get paid well to do a dirty job.

[Buzz Clik]

8. They were replacing a pump, part of NOT ignoring the infrastructure. Could you please explain?

[TheMadMonk]

13. Given that they were trying to "contain" a rising tide of sewage...

...behind a sluice-gate while they replaced the pump, the strong posibility arises that they were dealing with a sudden failure of a critical part of the infrastructure.

ROUTINE replacement of this pump, would NOT normally be done against the clock while shit piled up to Augean heights.

[AAO]

10. Yeah, we'll be seeing lots of disasters due to infrastructure deterioration.

Fuck the Republicans.

[leftyohiolib]

7. who needs infrastructure maintenance

[mwooldri]

9. What's gonna happen when this gets privatized?

Raleigh is working to wrest control away from local government for services they provide quite well right now. The water services in Asheville are under threat of being taken away from Asheville city's control. Privatize the water and who will be paying? What happens if such a spill would happen again? Fine the company and in turn the company hikes up the water bill?

This kind of accident could happen at any time to any water system - private or public. How it is handled is a different matter.

[G_j]

11. it's going to the house for approval today!

Republicans are stealing our water and putting it ounder the control of the MSD!

[G_j]

12. The Moffitt/Asheville siege continues

http://www.thetribunepapers.com/2013/04/28/the-moffittasheville-siege-continues/

By Leslee Kulba -

Mayor Terry Bellamy said if the city had to raise taxes, she wanted the public to be told why. Granted, government has taken on expanded roles some would rather not fund, but the city is being hobbled by what amounts to a siege by the General Assembly. Consequently, Assistant City Manager Jeff Richardson has been tracking bills as they sail through the legislature, and reporting to council.

This week, the big news was that H488 had passed the House and was on the Senate Finance Committee’s calendar for Wednesday. If passed, the bill would transfer the city’s water department to a regional authority, inducing a net loss of $1.9 million in the city’s operating budget. City Manager Gary Jackson was going to travel to Raleigh to present one last plea on the city’s behalf. Councilwoman Esther Manheimer noted he would only be given two minutes to make the city’s case, and Jackson added, “It will be my best speech ever.”

H252 was considered a done deal. It provided some relief from the Sullivan acts which essentially granted the City of Asheville their cake, the water system, but said they couldn’t eat it. Whereas other NC municipalities can use their water systems as a cash cow; Asheville couldn’t. At long last, the legislature said the city could use 5 percent of water revenues to repair streets and sidewalks torn up by waterworks improvements. H252 ended the short-lived reprieve, putting a $1.65 million dent in the city’s budget. Both water bills would be effective immediately upon passage.

H264 would eliminate all extraterritorial jurisdictions in the state. ETJ’s are a No Man’s Land of unincorporated parcels eyed by cities for near-term annexation. Although the people can’t vote in municipal elections, the cities can impose their development standards and fees for compliance in the ETJ. If H264 failed, H224 was standing by to dissolve only Asheville’s ETJ. H224 was ratified on April 17, and so the city cut another $219,000 from its anticipated revenues.

...more...