Issue Updates, Summer 2006

Trash Trucks on Rt. 211: According to the Page News & Courier, the Page County Board of Supervisors voted in April to increase the life span of the Battle Creek Landfill by 20 years. This would be done by burying waste about 24 feet, on average, above the groundwater table in the remaining 51 acres of the landfill. In addition, waste could be piled up to a maximum of a quarter of a mile high above ground there. The BOS is planning to ask the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality to adjust the landfill design to allow this.
On another front, the $13 million loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture last year to pay off CapitalSource Finance of Maryland to get control of the landfill and to make DEQ compliance improvements is now a bone of contention. Some Page County citizens say the loan will not be paid off for 40 years, 20 years after the new landfill is full if DEQ approves the requested design changes. They are also concerned about the landfill liner and the possibility of leakage into the groundwater.

Town of Washington's Comprehensive Plan, and Water and Sewer Issues: From February 14, 2005, to approval on April 12, 2006, The Town Council and its Planning Commission wrestled with an update to the Town’s Comprehensive Plan. Growth options ranged from a high of 87 new dwelling units to the accepted low of 14 to 28 units at buildout, the range dependant on new commercial establishments. This in addition to the current 88 occupied units and 29 vacant units.

A 250,000-gallon reservoir is currently under construction to service the current and vacant units and the low-growth option. Likewise, a 60,000-gallon-per-day wastewater treatment facility, with effluent discharge into the Rush River, is expected to handle current, vacant, and low-growth residential and commercial units. At a well-attended public DEQ hearing on March 28, voices for and against the issuance of a DEQ permit to allow effluent discharge into the Rush River were heard. The discharge of heavy metals, pharmaceuticals, and other pollutants are not covered by the permit. Odor is also an issue. The State Water Control Board will make a decision on the effluent discharge question this summer.