The Kings Mountain Herald
Kings Mountain seeks
permit for clean water
EMILY WEAVER
eweaver@kingsmountainherald.com
Clean water for the future
starts today. In an effort to
help clean up the environ-
ment, the City of Kings
Mountain will be applying for
a permit to adopt regulations
of the National Pollutant
Discharge Elimination System
(NPDES) and to cover the
city’s storm-water program.
Phase I of NPDES requires
medium-large cities with indi-
vidual storm sewer systems to
enact a storm-water manage-
ment program as a means to
control polluted discharges.
Phase II extends coverage of
the program to certain smaller
‘municipalities with storm
sewer systems.
“Kings Mountain has been
designated for Phase II per-
mitting. “by 7 the NC
Environmental Management
Commission,” said Codes
Director Holly Black at the last
city council meeting. She
added that the ruling was
handed down, partly due to
KM'’s population and the fact
that the eastern portion of the
city’s storm sewer system
flows into the Catawba River,
which is being monitored for
pollutants. :
Once in the program, KM
operators will be required to
design the city’s system to:
“reduce the discharge of pol-
lutants to the maximum
extent practicable; protect
water quality; and, satisfy the
appropriate water quality
requirements of the Clean
Water Act.”
In PowerPoint
explaining NPDES to the
council, Black said that an
slides
NPDES permit will help pro-
tect water quality by identify--
ing an acceptable level of a
pollutant in a discharge.
“Conservative methods are
used to calculate the accept-
able level, based on the assim-
ilative capacity and designat-
ed uses of the receiving
stream,” she said.
Kings Mountain will be able
to choose the type of technolo-
y the city uses to achieve that
level. “NPDES permits ensure
that both NC’s mandatory
standards for clean water and
federal minimum require-
ments are met,” Black said.
Regulations will be put into
place to help the city satisfy
each of the plan's six mini-
mum control measures. These
measures are designed to
reduce the amount of pollu-
tants trickling into receiving
water-bodies, like the
Catawba River.
The six measures, outlined
by the EPA, are listed as:
“public education and out-
reach; public
participation/involvement;
illicit discharge detection and
elimination; construction site
runoff control; post-construc-
tion site runoff control; and,
pollution prevention/good
housekeeping.”
Construction site run-off
control involves “developing,
implementing and enforcing
an erosion and sediment con-
trol program for construction
activities that disturb one or
more acres of land. (Controls
could include silt fences and
temporary storm-water deten-
tion ponds.)”
Post construction run-off
control includes “developing,
implementing and enforcing a
program to address dis-
charges of post-construction
storm-water runoff from new
development and redevelop-
ment areas. Applicable con-
trols could include preventa- -
tive actions such as protecting
sensitive areas or the use of
structural best management
practices such as grassed
swales or porous pavement.”
Pollution prevention/good
housekeeping involves
“developing and implement-
ing a program with the goal of
preventing or reducing pollu-
tant runoff from municipal
operations. The program must
“include municipal staff train-
ing on pollution prevention
measures and techniques (e.g,
regular street sweeping,
reduction in the use of pesti-
cides or street salt or frequent
catch-basin cleaning).”
“Polluted storm water
runoff is often transported to
municipal separate storm
sewer systems (MS4s) and
ultimately discharged into
local rivers and streams with-
out treatment,” Black said.
“EPA’s Storm-water Phase II
Rule establishes an MS4
storm-water management
program that is intended to
improve the Nation's water-
ways by reducing the quantity
of pollutants that storm-water
picks up and carries into
storm sewer systems during
storm events.”
When pollutants find their
way into the water system the
drinking water becomes con-
taminated, fish habitats
become at-risk, other wildlife
becomes endangered and
recreational use of the water-
ways becomes limited.
March 6, 2008
O’Brien appointed
EMILY WEAVER
eweaver@kingsmountainherald.com
On a vote of 3-1 the newest
Grover Town councilmember is
Cynthia
O’Brien.
The Town
Council
received four
applications
from candi-
dates inter-
ested in fill-
: ing the
y vacant seat
O'BRIEN left behind
by former Councilman Calvin
Huffman. Applicants included
former councilmen Bill Willis
"and John Harry and 19-year-old
Michael Allen, the grandson of
Councilor Jackie Bennett.
After quietly reviewing the
applications at Monday night's
Town Council meeting, council
members marked their choices
on silent ballots. The first round
resulted in a tie: two votes
O’Brien, two votes Allen.
Councilman Adam Green
ribbed Mayor Robert Sides
to fill Grover seat
telling him that he would have
to vote aloud.
Sides chose, instead, to do the
votes by ballot one more time.
The second round of ballots
showed O’Brien as the chosen
candidate 3-1. She was sworn
into office and will fill the term
until the seat’s next election in
November 2009.
“I love Grover. I've been here
for years and I'm excited about
helping out and hopefully mak-
ing a change,” O’Brien said
after the meeting.
Her plans as councilor
include economic development.
“I want to get a lot of business-
es to town and let it grow,” she
said. “I want to see it grow.”
O’Brien ran for office several
years ago and lost her bid by
two or four votes. When
Huffman’s seat became vacant
she decided to throw her bid in
again. “I've got the best interest
of Grover at heart,” she said.
O’Brien is a hairdresser. She
lives in Grover with her hus-
band Ben O’Brien and sons
Brock O’Brien, 9, and Damien
O’Brien, 6.
Council to discuss future
EMILY WEAVER
eweaver@kingsmountainherald.com
Grover Town Council
Monday night set a date of
March 18 for a workshop to dis-
cuss the town’s future plans
and direction.
The planning workshop will
be held in the Community
Room inside of Town Hall
beginning at 6 p.m.
In other action, Council voted
unanimously to appoint
Councilman Cobia Goforth to
fill the vacant seat on the
Isothermal Planning Board.
Many grants are available and
awarded through Isothermal
every year. “I think it’s impor-
tant for us to get our foot in the
door there,” said Mayor Robert
Sides.
Goforth has had several years
of experience with grants and
planning boards.
Also, Councilor Jackie
Bennett said that the cemetery
is almost complete. She will be
getting an estimate on the rocks
for the embankment.
Sides said that the town ran
into a situation at a well station
recently. “(Maintenance
Director) Donnie Herndon and
See Grover, Page 7
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