Skip to main content
Friday, October 30, 2026Oct 30
Subscribe
All Sections
Search
More

This story is free to read.

Cooper: Put WWTA solutions on table

Equipment and pipes sit near the Sand Hill pump station on Snow Hill Road as Water and Wastewater Treatment Authority workers attempt to clear a stand pipe that led to spills in early November.
Equipment and pipes sit near the Sand Hill pump station on Snow Hill Road as Water and Wastewater Treatment Authority workers attempt to clear a stand pipe that led to spills in early November. Equipment and pipes sit near the Sand Hill pump station on Snow Hill Road as Water and Wastewater Treatment Authority workers attempt to clear a stand pipe that led to spills in early November.

By Clint Cooper 4 min read

Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger and the Water and Wastewater Treatment Authority (WWTA) may have thought they had the Hamilton County Commission votes last month to approve a special permit to build a sewage treatment plant at a site on Mahan Gap Road, but it turned out they did not.

After all, it’s often said you don’t take a vote, if you can help it, unless you know what the outcome will be.

A 6-3 vote denied the permit and sent the mayor and the WWTA back to the drawing board for Plan B.

But since that Dec. 19 vote, it appears there is room for Plans B, C, D and more.

The public – and we’ll put ourselves in the category – was assured the Mahan Gap Road site was a key part of a solution to what are essentially two problems: the $245 million in corrections demanded by the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for ongoing violations of the Clean Water Act and the build-out of expanded capacity to facilitate sewage treatment in the growth areas of the northeastern part of the county.