FOLEY – From a grassroots opposition meeting at a Baptist church to filling the seats at the Foley Civic Center, the Weeks Bay Environmental Advisory Association is pressing Baldwin County Sewer Service (BCSS) to relinquish anticipated plans of building a wastewater treatment facility south of Magnolia Springs, near the headwaters of Nolte Creek. 

The group - which advocates that its position is not NIMBY, Not in My Backyard, - is concerned with the proposed location, east of County Road 12 and west of 49, which is in the Weeks Bay watershed, a national and state designated estuarine research reserve.

Nolte Creek and Weeks Creek will serve as probable discharge points for the effluent - treated sewage water - depending on the treatment process BCSS chooses in its permit with the Alabama Department of Environmental Management. 

If BCSS processes the effluent and discharges it through the spray irrigation method which would supply the effluent to local farmers for crops, organizers with the group are concerned that the treated water will flow into the creeks during moderate rains. 

These methods are generally used by wastewater treatment facilities. Riviera Utilities in Foley discharges its effluent into Wolf Creek, which flows into Wolf Bay, while meeting federal and state environmental agency requirements. 

Wolf Bay was designated an Outstanding Alabama Water in April, the highest water quality classification under state law. 

But at the civic center meeting, held July 24, the association said that the site poses a myriad of environmental concerns that can endanger not only Weeks Bay, but also Magnolia River, and surrounding waterways including Bon Secour Bay and Mobile Bay. 

Organizers and the public also expressed concerns regarding BSCC’s track record including problems at its Lillian plant and spills reported throughout the county.  

“We’re not overly reactionary.  We’re not anti-development.  We’re not anti-Baldwin County Sewer Services. We’re pro Weeks Bay,” said Max Reid, an organizer of the association at the meeting.  “(It’s) the worst spot in Baldwin County to have a sewage treatment plant (since the area) is one of the most pristine in the United States.”

He added: “We just feel like there is a more appropriate site.”

The site is still up for debate as to whether BCSS will go forward with building a treatment facility at that location.  

Clarence Burke, president of the sewer company, said at a county planning and zoning commission meeting in November that a site “north of 98 was cancelled.  It’s being replaced by a larger facility…in the County Road 12 / 49 area on I believe 242 acres,” according to the minutes of the meeting. 

Burke said that they are in the “permitting stage” and “they have a firm from Birmingham hired to do the permitting.”

He also stated BCSS would apply for a “spray irrigation” permit, and John Avent, who spoke on Burke’s behalf at the zoning meeting, said the plant would process 3 million gallons of a sewage a day and that 242 acres of land was necessary since “we want to make sure the land will dispose of” that amount of effluent. 

Avent said that eventually BCSS will shut down its Lillian and Fort Morgan plants, which will then serve as pumping stations to the Magnolia Springs facility, according to the minutes. 

The early phases of this plan, Avent said, will take at least 2 years, and the permitting will be handled by Malcom Pirnie, a century-old environmental engineering, science and consulting firm. 

As of Tuesday, the Alabama Department of Environmental Management has not received a permit from BCSS for a new wastewater treatment facility in Baldwin County.  The state agency is the only entity that can lawfully regulate BCSS. 

Burke did not return calls seeking an interview. 

At the civic center meeting, a man who identified himself as the chief financial officer of BCSS said: “I’m not sure if you are all looking at the right site,” adding that “(you’re) possibly mistaken on the site.”

“We just wanted to hear what was said,” he said, and that he is “not involved in the decision making process” such as permitting. 

He also noted that over 95 percent of spills are due to “someone else,” such as utility workers striking lines.

“Negligence or inappropriate management is anything but the truth,” the CFO said.   

Burke was invited to the meeting, Reid said, but he did not attend. 

Whether BCSS permits a site near Weeks Bay, the advisory association is taking proactive steps, according to the group’s representatives, including forming alliances with heavy hitting environmental organizations.     

Casi Callaway, executive director of Mobile Baykeeper, an environmental organization that protects public health in the Mobile Bay watershed, said that Baykeeper will provide financial services to the Weeks Bay advisory association. 

Mobile Baykeeper will manage an account for the advisory association as they try to raise $30,000 to hire environmental engineers and consultants that will analyze the anticipated location and the watershed as a whole to understand the effects a wastewater facility could have on the area. 

Callaway also said that Baykeeper will diligently research the issue and if a permit surfaces, they will take whatever actions are necessary. 

David H. Pope, director of the Georgia / Alabama office of the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC), a powerful organization that has halted damaging projects throughout the South, said that his organization will be waiting for the permit, and once they receive notice, SELC will review it in light of federal and state laws.