The Town of Jay had its first annual wastewater inspection Tuesday for this year and passed with just a few changes required from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP).
Supervisor Alicia Jernigan was pleased with the overall outcome of her first inspection.
“Until this year, inspections were done every three years after Gov. Rick Scott came into office, but I'm glad to see it go back to being done annually,” said Jernigan. “Gov. Scott had cut funding, so the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) only did it every three years. Now with Gov. Ron DeSantis, it's done annually again. I prefer that, because it is easier for a facility to know what is expected of it and to stay in compliance.”
Jernigan said representatives from the FDEP will generally sample each tank in the wastewater treatment process and look over the facility's paperwork to make sure each facility has monthly reports, including sample results submitted throughout the year.
“They toured the facility, make sure we are operating per the permit, and make sure everything is in compliance as far as the effluents and biosolids,” said Jernigan.
Wastewater inspections are required and monitored by the Florida DEP at the state level, which then has to be in compliance with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
“Sometimes they will come unannounced and sometimes they will call ahead to schedule a visit,” said Jernigan. “We passed, but they found a couple of things. Our buffers did not have expiration date on them so they want us to order new ones with exp. dates, even though these are only three months old.”
She said that the facility's perc ponds, where they discharge effluents, need to be better maintained. Effluent is an outflowing of water or gas to a natural body of water, from a structure such as a wastewater treatment plant, sewer pipe, or industrial outfall, and should be rotated weekly to maintain health.
“The town will hire a contract company to do that,' she said. “We just don't have the manpower to do that to keep them in condition the DEP would like to see them.”
Jernigan explained that vegetation will grow in the bottom of the effluent ponds and that although the water they are putting back into the ground has no nutrients or minerals, it does water the vegetation to grow, which slows the process.
“We want the water to sink immediately, which vegetation would impede,” said Jernigan. “The company will use equipment to remove the vegetation weekly or bi-weekly. It will need less maintenance in the wintertime because the vegetation grows at a slower rate.”
Jernigan said any corrections or changes that the FDEP finds should be made and an email with a picture that shows the correction or change and submitted to the FDEP is sufficient. She said sometimes they may pop in and check on it periodically to ensure compliance.
Jernigan resigned from Century as Water and Wastewater Supervisor last March and said she hopes to get Jay's water and wastewater systems running smoothly.
“I enjoy the challenges this job brings me,” said Jernigan. “It's not a dream job right now, but my goal is have it running efficiently and with minimum problems, so it will become my dream job.”
