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Hickory and Catawba County will expand and upgrade a small sewer plant they own in the Sherrills Ford/Lake Norman area to handle growth and replace aging septic tanks.
The old plant has not been upgraded in 50 years.
All the necessary state permits have been or soon will be obtained. Bids probably will be opened in December, with construction starting in the spring, said Barry Edwards, director of utilities and engineering for Catawba County.
The plant is in southeastern Catawba County and serves the area around N.C. 150 and Lake Norman.
The $8 million expansion will double the plant's capacity to treat sewage, bringing it to 1.5 million gallons daily. It will still be a small wastewater treatment plant. By comparison, Hickory's plant on River Road has the capacity to treat 9mgd.
The county has enough land to allow construction of a new plant alongside the old one.
Doubling the capacity will allow the plant to treat sewage from about 2,000 additional homes. Some of the homes already exist and use septic tanks or community package treatment plants; others are yet-to-be-built homes planned in the lake area.
The area already has had significant residential growth because it is near the lake and within commuting distance to Charlotte. The planned widening of N.C. 16 in that area will open up more land for development.
"We are not trying to target growth but address where growth is happening," Edwards said.
The expanded plant would help the residents of Northview Harbor, which now has about 560 homes on septic tanks. It would also serve homes planned in the Key Harbor subdivision, said Kevin Greer, assistant public services director for Hickory.
The plant will serve a Crosland commercial development planned for the intersection of N.C. 150 and N.C. 16.
Catawba County will install 17 miles of new sewer lines in the area, allowing existing homes to connect to the wastewater treatment plant.
The improvements will mean cleaner treated wastewater will be discharged into the Catawba River and its lakes. "We don't want environmental degradation," Greer said. "This will be the newest facility in Catawba County. It is a better plant, better technology."
Edwards says the county does not want to see 2,000 or 3,000 septic tanks in the area. New subdivisions must connect to the system and nearby septic tanks that fail and cannot be replaced must also connect. But owners of functioning septic tanks will not be required to connect.
The city and county will borrow money to build the new plant. The bonds will be repaid by people and businesses who buy wastewater treatment service.
