Emergency regulation impacts JRSA

An emergency regulation issued by the state after the discovery of illegal dumping has impact on Oconee County’s wastewater treatment plant. Bob Winchester, executive director of the Oconee Joint Regional Sewer Authority, announced at a meeting Thursday that the order, issued by DHEC, will require the JRSA to analyze a thick black gunk known as sludge for the potential presence of the hazardous material PCB—polychlorinated bi-phenyls. The analysis, Winchester said, is required before the JRSA may transport sludge to any of the regional landfills. “We’ve got to that in order to continue to dispose of sludge at these two landfills,” Winchester told the JRSA’s planning and policy committee. The DHEC emergency regulation follows the discovery of illegal dumping of PCBs into sewer systems, mainly in the Spartanburg area. An investigation of that dumping is underway by state and federal authorities.