Block · one region of the page, as the scanner read it. It may hold a whole story, part of one, several, or an advertisement; stitching blocks into articles is the next step. Text is supplied OCR.
Page 1 · column 1 of 6 · from the scan, no model involved
Alson Atkins maintains that his private sewage disposal system is working fine and therefore he doesn’t have to hook on to Sperryville’s new $2.1 million public system.
The Rappahannock Water and Sewer Authority, which enacted a mandatory connection ordinance and sees Mr. Atkins as the lone hold-out, thinks the waste water from his private residence should be treated at the WSA’s plant but says it needs help from state agencies in forcing compliance with the connection provision.
The Health Department and the state Water Control Board shoved the county into building the sewer system in the first place to clean up the pollution of the Thornton River and remove the health hazard of groundwater contamination arising from malfunction septic systems in Sperryville’s flood plain soils. But the two state agencies say they can’t push Mr. Atkins into hooking on to the sewer system.
And so the impasse continues.
Mr. Atkins’ residence is just feet away from the Thornton River. The waste water is piped to a septic tank, located in the river’s flood plain, which is periodically pumped out by a commercial hauler, according to Mr. Atkins. He concedes that an additional line once ran out of the tank but that this line has been closed off, thus eliminating any pollution potential.
“Rightly, he should be hooked up,” says WSA chairman Martin Woodard. And at WSA meetings, Authority members have criticized the Health Department and Water Control Board for failure to take action against the hold-out.
Douglas Baumgardner, attorney for the WSA, notes that section 15.1-1261 of the Virginia Code provides the enabling legislation for the
92.8%