GULF SHORES, Ala. - The work session of the Orange Beach City Council on Tuesday the fourth of March brought discussion on Orange  Beach and waste water treatment. The new waste water treatment plant is under construction just west of the Orange Beach Sportsplex and a half mile south of Canal Road.

The new plant will double the capacity of the current facility at Canal and William Silvers Road (Sportsplex  Road) and will have useful features such as the reduction of malodorous emissions. The old plant serves Orange Beach but also serves limited areas north of Wolf Bay and the influent is piped across the Bay. Jeff Silvers of the Council suggested that flow meters be installed to determine just how much to charge the community north of the Canal.

The privately owned Alabama Utility Services, LLC (AUS) hopes that in the foreseeable  future that they can obviate the necessity of waste water going to Orange Beach. They are proceeding with the construction of a treatment plant four and a half miles north of US Highway 98 at Gardner Road. Christopher “Kit” Matthews is overseeing the construction.

Kit Matthews describes the plant’s capacity as 980,000 gallons of initial treatment and a tertiary treatment to include ultraviolet prior to stream discharge. An effluent for irrigation is being included.

Josephine, which now depends on Orange  Beach, is being targeted to “start the flow north instead of south” and other communities are being approached to join this “state of the art” waste disposal plant. Already 16 inch c-900 grade PVC pipe is being laid toward the south.

Unincorporated Lillian is holding its own discussion on waste water treatment in an all day conference called “Symposium on Sewers” on March 14. In effect, the role of Orange Beach is creating activity to the north while providing for an increase in population on the island.