
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, August 17, 1993                   TAG: 9308170174
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: CATHRYN McCUE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

ROANOKE SEWAGE TREATMENT PLANT ON VIOLATORS LIST

Roanoke's sewage treatment plant was among four dischargers in Western Virginia that violated federal water pollution laws last year.

The facility is on the federal Environmental Protection Agency's list for "significant noncompliance," Cheryl Szumal, an agency spokeswoman, said Monday.

"It's kind of like a red flag," she said. The listing means that state and federal regulators will be keeping an eye on the plant.

However, state officials said the violations did not pose a threat to health or the environment.

Other Western Virginia facilities on EPA's list are:

Bedford's sewage treatment plant.

Roanoke Electric Steel Corp.

The Radford Army Ammunition Plant.

"In general, there's nothing really extraordinary with [the violations]," said Charles Stitzer, enforcement specialist with the state Department of Environmental Quality's water division in Richmond.

All the facilities either have corrected the problems or are under consent orders to do so within two or three years, Stitzer said.

The Roanoke sewage treatment plant failed to submit to the state a plan for how it would monitor and process waste from industries that discharge into the sewer. Stitzer said the city is back on track with its implementation plan.

The Bedford plant exceeded a stringent limit for organic matter discharge.

Roanoke Electric Steel twice exceeded limits for zinc in discharges from its settling pond. The state put the plant under a consent order to build a new treatment plant for zinc, and encouraged the company to treat for other pollutants that are "borderline" as far as compliance goes, Stitzer said.

The Radford arsenal installed a treatment system for a coal pile, which emptied into a ditch that carried the waste to the New River. Stitzer said the violation was for total suspended solids - dirt from the ditch. The Army is correcting the problem, he said.

The violations remained on EPA's list partly because of the time involved. Sometimes it can take a couple of years to correct a problem, Stitzer said.

by CNB