The Pocahontas County Public Service District (PSD) board followed the advice of wastewater manager Lloyd Coleman and committed funds to repair several wastewater systems at the PSD's Silver Creek and Village sewage plants.

The board voted to approve the repairs at its June 8 meeting at the Durbin waterworks building.

Coleman prepared a capital improvement plan, or CIP, which contains a detailed schedule of wastewater system repairs for the next three years. Each item in the CIP must be individually approved by the PSD board. The CIP includes 14 repairs or upgrades for the year 2010.

The PSD approved Coleman to move ahead with five 2010 CIP items, including replacement ditch mixers at the Silver Creek plant, estimated cost, $25,000; a post aeration blower at Silver Creek, estimated cost, $3,500; a Village plant chemical program, estimated cost, $25,000; a flow meter at the Silver Creek plant, estimated cost, $5,000 and piping at the Silver Creek plant, estimated cost, $5,000.

In addition to those five repairs, which total an estimated $63,500, the board decided to move forward with repairs to the Hawthorne loop sewage lines, which have been plagued with leaks for years.

First, the PSD will conduct smoke testing to determine the location of surface water leaks into the Hawthorne loop lines. The leaks needlessly burden the sewage treatment system with excess water.

Coleman estimated that about 1,000 feet of sewage line in several different locations will need repaired at an estimated cost of $50,000.

At the request of Linwood-area resident Russell Holt, the PSD clarified the service area of an alternative Snowshoe-area sewage system proposed by Virginia engineer David Rigby.

Rigby, president of Waste Water Management, Inc., presented his plan to the PSD on April 14. A map included with that presentation indicated a service area that encompassed Linwood, but no areas north or south along Route 219.

PSD board member Tom Shipley and Amon Tracey stated at the June 8 meeting that the service area for the alternative plan would include all areas serviced by Thrasher Engineering's proposed Site 7 plant, which includes approximately three miles north of Linwood along Route 219 in its service area.

Thrasher is currently analyzing the efficacy of Rigby's alternative and the two board members said they wantedﾠ Thrasher to compare "apples to apples."

Thrasher engineer Jonathan Carpenter reported that he has had several good discussions with Rigby regarding the alternative plan.

In other business, the PSD board:

- approved May's financial statement, which reflected $12,506.30 in receipts and $11,623.82 in outlays under the water account and $25,863.72 in receipts and $36,187.75 in outlays under the wastewater account.

- approved an invoice from Region IV, Planning and Development Council, which included $3,763.73 to be paid to attorney Tom Michael and $14,653.55 to be paid to Thrasher Engineering.

- tabled action on a web design contract.

- tabled action on submitting a draft karst study by contractor Culver and Jones to the Department of Environmental Protection.

- tabled action on an alternate main line extension agreement with developers.

The next regular meeting of the PSD is scheduled for July 29, 7 p.m. at the Linwood PSD office.