Opinion ID: 1106817
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: the potential health hazard from sewage and waste disposal of the hanging moss and purple creek drainage area.

Text: There was much evidence in connection with the potential health hazard as a result of sewage disposal in the Hanging Moss and Purple Creek basin. Dr. A.L. Gray, the executive officer of the State Board of Health had been upon the ground and was amazed at the extent of the development. He found that a good per cent of sewage there goes through septic tanks and that the soil in the Jackson area is not adaptable to the satisfactory operation of this kind of disposal. He had inspected an Imhoff tank four or five weeks previously, and observed the sewage spilling over the top. He introduced photographs showing water and fluid coming from the tank  and with solid matter on the ground and in two drains to a ditch. The discharge was finding its way into Purple Creek. This was only one-fourth of a mile from the residential area. He was of the opinion that this kind of situation constitutes a health hazard. He also introduced a picture of a lagoon, the effluent from which is also discharged into Purple Creek. The trouble, in both instances, insofar as the City is concerned, was that the effluent and waste from these sources are discharging into Purple and Hanging Moss Creeks, and these streams empty into Pearl River two or three miles upstream above the City's water intake. In the doctor's opinion, this probably constitutes an additional health hazard for that reason. He said that there is a definite need for an overall plan for the collection and disposal of sewage within this drainage area to be annexed to the City. Horace B. Lester, an engineer for the City, testified that the City, in 1945, began studies to analyze the development of every subdivision. The southern ridge of the Hanging Moss Creek basin had controlled the northeastern boundary of the existing corporate limits. An analysis determined that 18% of the outside development had occurred in that basin, and, in his opinion, for the next decade it will increase rather than merely equal other areas. He prepared several maps of that portion of the basin in the present expansion, with particular reference to topography, geography, and suitability for residential, commercial, industrial and civic purposes. The concern of the City was the collection, transportation, and disposal of sewage, and the protection of its raw water supply. The disposal of this waste should be made below the raw water intake at all times to prevent a health hazard. At this time it is not practical to do so by gravity, nor is it practical to dump the same below the intake as the outlet would be only six feet from the bottom of the river. However, he thought that the collection into a lagoon and the subsequent discharge  through outfall lines south of the present intake would be feasible; and by overall planning, this health hazard can be eliminated. The proposed sanitary sewage stabilization lagoon, as a facility in an overall plan for moving the sewage to a point below the raw water intake, following the design criteria used in the study of the basin, was approved by J.E. Johnston, Director of Sanitary Engineering of the State Board of Health, and by William L. Porter and Harvey A. Jones, of Independence, Missouri, sanitary engineers of wide experience in such type of disposal. The appellants vigorously denied the feasibility of the lagoon system. They offered evidence to the effect that the location of the dam for the Reservoir has been moved up the River above the mouth of Culley Creek, which is contaminated by sewage and waste from the area of the Towns of Ridgeland and Madison, and which is not in the proposed corporate limits. Besides, the proximity of the Eubanks outfall sewer into the River, near the lowhead dam is now such that, in times of high water, sewage from that line can get into the present lowhead dam water intake. They further emphasized that an analysis of Lester's Exhibit, P. 75, calls for approximately 45 first stage lagoons; that his Exhibit, P. 74, shows fourth stage lagoons covering as much as 21 acres for a single one; and that the lagoons would be scattered over the northern part of the City, and involve an expense of around $4,000,000. They also offered evidence that the Missouri lagoon system, upon which so much reliance was placed by the City, during the summer of 1958, for the first time in four years, had developed blue-green algae, which resulted in material floating on the top of the water, with offensive odors. There was also evidence to the effect that FHA will not insure a mortgage on a home built within 500 feet of a sewage lagoon; and that 40 acres could not be developed around a 4-acre lagoon. J. Will Young, while conceding septic tanks to  be unsatisfactory, was of the opinion that the lagoon system was not feasible, that the cost would be prohibitive, and that a conduit direct from the Reservoir is the answer. Besides this, there was evidence to the effect that property values will be adversely affected. The witnesses seem to have agreed, insofar as the City's water supply is concerned, that it would be better and safer to take the water from the Reservoir by conduit. The plans for the dam make provision for that eventuality. In that event, of course, pollution from the Hanging Moss and Purple Creek basin would be eliminted. On this sharply disputed and highly controverted issue, the appellants, with great earnestness and much merit, say that, if Area 13 should be excluded from the expansion, the large amount of money necessary for the institution of the lagoon system could be devoted to treatment plants at each outfall sewer line so as to eliminate the dumping of raw sewage into the River, and that after approximately five years, when this area has developed to a reasonable extent, a conventional sewer line can be laid with a final treatment plant near the River.