Bergoo Raw Sewage Issue Nothing New But Getting Worse

About 50 households in Bergoo have a private sewer system over 80 years old which dumps raw sewage directly into Leatherwood Creek and the Elk River.

This sign could easily appear in Bergoo, to notify 

 folks downstream of the raw sewage being

dumped into the Elk River.

For the past two decades, residents on this private system have requested state and local officials to put them on a public sewage system. Now, their private aging system is breaking down causing pipes to clog and contaminating at least one household's drinking well. All of these residents have private water supplies that are in danger of contamination due to the leaks in the system.

When Webster County Health Department Sanitarian George Clutter was quoted in an interview yesterday on WDTV of Clarksburg that folks in the State Capitol in Charleston are making their coffee with raw sewage from Bergoo, he was not kidding, as Charleston draws their water supply fed in part by the Elk River. Likewise, when folks downriver of Bergoo (which take their water supply from Elk) drink their water, they likewise are taking a sip of the Bergoo raw sewage (of course, the water is treated and filtered before it reaches their taps).

The private Bergoo system is nothing more than a series of pipes without any type of filtration that dumps raw sewage into either Leatherwood Creek or further down at the Elk River. Because it is a private system, just like any private septic system, the County does not and can not by law maintain the system. If it breaks, it is the responsibility of the users to fix and/or maintain it.

When environmental laws were passed in West Virginia prohibiting the dumping of raw sewage into creeks and rivers, existing systems, like the old Bergoo system, were "grandfathered" into the law, which basically meant that were exempt from the law. The big rub here, rather the big smell, is that this is the year 2012 and no one should be allowed to dump raw sewage into our streams and rivers, particularly when those waters are used as water supplies for towns and cities.

Contacted Saturday before the "hoopla" created by WDTV's appearance, Bergoo resident Libby Hamrick told the Commentator that the system is breaking down. She noted that Chuck and Cathy Bonnett are the first residents to have the most serious problem from the failing system, as their water well is now contaminated with raw sewage. According to Hamrick, and as confirmed by the Bonnett's to WDTV, tests have confirmed the contamination.

Hamrick said that many times her husband Jeff has spread lime along Leatherwood Creek in the Summer when the smell of the raw sewage gets bad during low water periods. She said he has also had to clean out the place where the sewage enters the Creek, as well as enlisting the help of the local fire department to flush their lines, and neighbors' lines.

Putting these Bergoo residents on a public sewage system is not only long overdue, it is the only solution. Lot sizes for almost all residents are too small to put in individual private septic systems.

Toilet paper from the Bergoo raw sewage pipes are often
found clinging along trees on the banks of the Elk River.

Hamrick feels that public officials have overlooked this problem for years because the system is a private system, not subject to public oversight. "It's not their responsibility so they don't help us," she said.

The Commentator also contacted County Commissioner Chuck Armentrout to get his response to the complaints being raised by the Bergoo residents. "We have been actively working on this problem for years. We have applied for funding for a public project for Bergoo, but this is a cost per customer issue. We can't compete with larger city projects where more customers would be served by the same amount of grant money," Armentrout noted.

Even though the Bergoo project has been turned down in the past, Armentrout said there is a ray of hope on the horizon. "We are sixth on the priority list for funding of a project like this," he noted. The Commissioner said that the County Commission has taken action in the past by securing a $25,000.00 grant to the Public Service District so that preliminary studies and audits could be completed.  Those audits and studies were necessary to qualify the Bergoo project for the funding, and it appears the money was well spent since it landed the Bergoo project sixth among over a hundred similar type projects across the State of West Virginia.

Armentrout hopes that by this Spring or Summer, a final decision will be reached on whether the project will be funded. If it is, Armentrout said the project could be completed within a year.

As to what the project entails, Armentrout said it would be similar to a very large, over-sized septic system. "There would be very little maintenance on this system, and it would be electronically monitored by the Public Service District," he added. Every five to seven years, the sludge water in the system would have to be pumped out and taken to a waste water treatment plant, for eventual filtration, treatment, and discharge back into the river like that occurring at the plant below Dorrtown along the Elk.