Water & Sewer
Given the serenity of the lake and its surrounding beauty, it's easy to forget that the town owns a wastewater treatment plant with a capacity of 995,000 gallons per day (GPD), a lift pump station located below the dam, about 28 miles of collection lines (mostly under the lake) and about 61 manholes.
Our plant serves more than 800 customers, 434 of whom are served by a private collection system owned by the Carolina Water System within Rumbling Bald Resort, Apple Valley, and Shumont Estates under contract with Rumbling Bald Resort Property Owners Association (POA).
Portions of Chimney Rock Village have access to our plant through a county-owned 8" collection line. Treatment is similar to a water treatment plant with chemical additives (alum) and chlorination. The actual use is about 700,000 GPD at peak flows, ¾ of which is lake water from infiltration.
In 1996, the Town of Lake Lure was able to build a new wastewater treatment station through Federal grant funds. The station contains three electric pumps, far more powerful than the old ones. Rather than pushing the effluent up to the plant, they pull it up from the low point under the dam and then force it down to the plant. Normally, one pump runs as needed and a second pump kicks in during periods of high flow. The third pump is a backup and they cycle so that all three are used in rotation as the primary pump.
Note: Residual fats. used cooking oils (UCO) and grease (FOG)
Residual fats. used cooking oils (UCO) and grease (FOG) are byproducts of food preparation that must be properly managed to avoid these potentially troublesome materials from entering drain pipes in the home or commercial food service operations. When FOG is allowed to go down the drain, it solidifies, reducing and preventing water flow in drains and sewer pipes. Sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs) are clogs in the collection systems that can potentially result in raw sewage released into communities, causing potentially dangerous health conditions. These are costly events for wastewater utilities to clean up, dangerous for public health and can degrade the water quality of North Carolina's public waters.
Sanitary sewer systems are neither designed nor equipped to treat the FOG that accumulates on the interior of municipal sewer collection system pipes. Learn more about FOG.
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