It has been a tough year for the Cape Charles wastewater plant. Equipment failures have led to high levels of pollutants being poured into the bay, so much so that the State has levied compliance fines of $70,000.00. Town Council and the Mayor have been in some discussion regarding the issues, such as taking samples to Virginia Beach multiple times each week, as well as having the operators obtain their Class 1 Operator licenses. Mayor Proto asked about the feasibility of the Town bringing in an engineering firm to review the problems.
All this has occurred while a report from the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science Summary indicates that the overall health of Chesapeake Bay improved in 2015. The Bay scored a C (53 percent) in 2015, one of the three highest scores since 1986. Only 1992 and 2002 scored as high or higher, both years of major sustained droughts. As the map indicates, our lower bay is doing the best, despite the failures in Cape Charles.
Map by University of Maryland Center for Environmental Sciences
Dan Burke, candidate for Town Council was the only person at the candidates forum to bring up the issue of our failing wastewater plant. He warned everyone that if the plant were not properly managed that the town ( i. e. Taxpayers) could be heavily fined. He did extensive research on the problem but not many were interested in his analysis at the time. Instead, the voters elected the same folks (with the exception of Andy Buckholz) who got us into this problem. Wouldn’t it be nice if the Mayor and Council members took responsibility for their action or inaction and paid this fine out of their own pockets?