• Lake Waccamaw passes zoning change to protect lake, block sludge spreading in town.

By JEFFERSON WEAVER
Staff Writer

Treated sewage from Wilmington won’t be spread on a Lake Waccamaw lot after the town’s board of commissioners passed a zoning text amendment Tuesday.

Town Manager Darren Currie said the town has four working farms within the town limits, and the owner of one of the farms had contracted with a firm that disposes of treated solid effluent by spreading it on fields.

Farmers generally receive the solid waste for little or no cost, and it makes an effective and safe fertilizer for non-human consumption crops, such as feed grains. The City of Wilmington contracts with a company that transports the waste and spreads the material on farms throughout southeastern North Carolina. State water quality laws regulate the frequency of applications, so Wilmington’s contractor is constantly looking for new farms.

Although the material is supposed to be odor-free, some sludge fields can have an offensive odor due to weather conditions.

“We were concerned with this plan,” Currie said, “not just because this was in the center of town, but it’s less than 1,000 feet from the lake.”

The farm in question is also uphill from several homes, Currie said, and residents were concerned about health hazards and potential smells from the waste material.

Under the new rule passed Tuesday, “sludge, sewage or any effluent cannot be applied to any lands in the zoning district of the town of Lake Waccamaw, unless the land doesn’t drain into the lake or is more than 1,000 feet from a residence, church, school or business.”

Currie said the town uses dispersal fields, but none that could cause problems in town.

“We’re fully aware it needs to go somewhere,” Currie said, “but it doesn’t need to go in the middle of town.”