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Wastewater districts eye becoming more disaster-proof.

Article Excerpt
The storm surge that inundated the Mississippi Gulf Coast during Hurricane Katrina caused an estimated $35 million to $36 million in damages to wastewater treatment systems in Jackson and Harrison counties, and that doesn't include damage to lift stations and sewer lines that are used to deliver wastewater to the treatment plants.

Most of the Coast's wastewater systems suffered extensive mechanical and electrical damage, especially those closer to the Gulf and/or on the west side of the Coast, said Phil Bass, director of the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) Office of Pollution Control.

By two months after the storm, all but two of the Coast's municipal wastewater treatment facilities are operating at secondary (advanced) treatment levels.

"The Long Beach-Pass Christian facility should be at secondary treatment soon," Bass said. "The Keegan Bayou facility in Biloxi is still at primary treatment levels."

Federal, state and local officials are working together to address immediate needs and develop long-term plans to make the wastewater systems more disaster proof in the future.

Recently the Governor's Commission on Recovery, Rebuilding and Renewal recommended that Coast cities and counties consider putting some of the wastewater and water infrastructure that flooded on higher ground. Bass said while...

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