Groundwater testing results from Lagoon watershed to be presented July 21

Groundwater testing results from Lagoon watershed to be presented July 21
Little Lagoon Preservation Society opposes expansion of sewer treatment plant on Ft. Morgan Rd.

By Fran Thompson
Results from two studies of the groundwater around Little Lagoon will be presented during the Little Lagoon Preservation Society‘s July 21 meeting at 6 p.m. (5:30 p.m. social time) at the Gulf Shores Activity Center.
The studies, funded by the Mobile Bay National Estuary Program in late 2020, were very timely and pertinent given the controversy generated by the proposed Baldwin County Sewer System permit request to increase its discharge at its Fort Morgan wastewater treatment plant. The permit requested by the BCSS would allow a 65 percent increase in the volume of wastewater to be treated at its plant.
Little Lagoon is classified for swimming and whole-body contact. But it has had a long history of water-quality problems related to restricted flow and nutrient enrichment, resulting in excessive algae. It was placed on the 2006 Alabama Department of Environmental Management list of impaired waters for pathogens and currently remains on that list.
Considerable documentation of water quality within Little Lagoon spanning more than 14 years clearly indicates that Little Lagoon would benefit from no additional increases in the amount of permitted wastewater treatment at the Fort Morgan BCSS plant, according to LLPS president Dennis Hatfield.
Hatfield noted that data already collected indicates a high nutrient zone exists in the area south of the BCSS plant, and the results from the studies that will be presented on July 21 may help determine the source of nutrient point sources, pathogens and other harmful chemicals within the Little Lagoon watershed.
At the meeting, Dr. Alex Beebe (University of South Alabama, Groundwater Hydrologist) will present a program titled “Little Lagoon Watershed Nutrient Assessment and Source Tracking” and Marlon Cook (University of Alabama, consulting geologist) will present a program titled “Assessment of Water Quality, Groundwater Contributions, and Land-Use Impacts in the Little Lagoon Watershed.”
Cook’s study investigated general water quality, contaminant sources (including fertilizer, toxic metals and pesticides), measured surface water runoff and ground water flows, and characterized fecal bacteria in Lagoon waters. Monitoring sites included drainage canals, the channel connecting Little Lagoon with Lake Shelby, accessible wells and strategic surface water sites in the Lagoon.
Dr. Beebe investigated groundwater in various locations around Little Lagoon to characterize and identify sources of nutrients (fertilizer). Ground water data taken downstream of golf courses, subdivisions, freshwater input points and the wastewater treatment plant were evaluated in his study.
The Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) will have to approve the BCSS discharge permit seeking an increase in discharge capacity at the Fort Morgan plant from 1.2 million gallons per day to 2 million gallons per day.
Additionally, Gulf Shores recently filed a cease and desist order to stop BCSS, the state’s largest private sewer utility, from using an unpermitted sludge pond it constructed at its Fort Morgan treatment plant in 2021. According to the city’s filing, the pond, located adjacent to residential housing, violates the city’s zoning ordinance and the offensive, noxious odors emitted from the pond that are permeating outdoor and indoor air within homes in the area.
“These odors cause unreasonable interference with neighboring property owners’ abilities to enjoy their properties and constitute both a public and private nuisance,” zoning administrator Andy Bauer wrote. “The construction of the sludge pond represents an expansion of a nonconforming use, and operation of the pond shall be discontinued immediately.”