Powers said the high school needs to build a lift station and tie into the town of Robbins sewage treatment system. The school has been using an old package sewer treatment plant since the school was built in 1965.
Two wells provide water for the northern Moore County high school. But the wells are not producing enough water for the school and for irrigating the athletic fields, Powers said.
The school system is seeking $800,000 in state and federal grant funds to pay for construction of a sewer lift station to pump sewage into the town’s system. The money would also pay for extending water lines from Robbins to serve the school.
“There are more stringent regulations now governing the sewage treatment systems in North Carolina than there were when the school’s package plant was built almost 37 years ago,” Powers said.
The sewage plant is operating within the state’s guidelines but is expected to soon exceed the allowable limits of ammonia, bacteria, and other effluents in the treated sewage. If that happens, the state could impose fines.
“We’d like to think it is an emergency now,” Powers said. “We want to do something about it before it gets to that point.”
As for the wells, Powers said, “The water supply itself through the two wells at North Moore is borderline. To have enough water for the number of students we now have is insufficient and still use it to water the athletic fields and do other things besides supply the building.”
The present wells can supply water for drinking, cooking and dishwashing.
“We’d run out of water if we also pumped it to the athletic fields,” Powers said.
Water for irrigating the athletic fields comes from a small well just for that part of the campus.
Powers still hopes to receive the grant money for the North Moore project, but hasn’t heard and it has been several months since the application was sent in.
