[CPEO-MEF] Navy needs to repair Peninsula leaks

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Virginia
Navy needs to repair Peninsula leaks
By SCOTT HARPER, The Virginian-Pilot
© January 30, 2003

State regulators have instructed the Navy to repair its sewage system at
the Yorktown Naval Weapons Station after a series of raw sewage spills
last year, including a 30,000-gallon overflow that reached a reservoir
supplying drinking water to Newport News.

The Navy did not immediately report the May 6 overflow to Newport News
Waterworks, which normally would stop pumping water and test it for
bacterial contamination.

Navy officials said they tried to call the utility but could not reach
anyone. The Navy has since updated its phone list and now has a correct
number.

Dave Morris, a Newport News Waterworks administrator, said sewage spills
rarely wash into local reservoirs. In this case, he said, the affected
water from Skiffes Creek would not likely have posed a health risk
because it was chemically cleansed at a treatment plant and had to
travel through wetlands as well as another reservoir.

``It's never a good thing to have this happen,'' Morris said, ``but
Skiffes Creek is probably the best place you'd want this to happen,''
given the amount of dilution and filtering before the water reaches city
taps.

The state Department of Environmental Quality, which was promptly
notified, described the spill as ``serious,'' according to case records.
Such a large amount of raw sewage ``has the potential to impact the
water supply and human health.''

This article can be viewed at:
http://www.pilotonline.com/news/nw0130yor.html

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