Thursday, the Pearl River County Utility Authority Board of Directors heard from Chere Wortham from the Mississippi Health Department about grease interceptors. The board also heard an update concerning the Picayune Wastewater System Rehabilitation Project from Brooks Wallace, of Dungan Engineering.
Wortham, a 15-year veteran of the health department, said since she noticed a lack of regulation on grease interceptors within the county.
“The dumpsters are not draining through a grease interceptor before they go into our sewer system and are not provided hot and cold water,” Wortham said. “I think just about every facility up here does not meet that code. We really want to work with you guys to come up to code.”
Business owners are responsible for the grease interceptors, she said.
“The code office usually lets us know what’s being built so we can enforce it ahead of time,” Wortham said. “We want a better relationship and that’s what we’re working on.”
In a separate matter, Wallace gave the board an update on the Picayune Wastewater System Rehabilitation Project.
To date, three basins have been videoed and the videoing of the fourth basin began this week, Wallace said.
More than 95 percent of the pipes in the first basin will have to be lined, almost 70 percent of the lines in the second and third basins pipes will have to be lined, he said. Many of the pipes are lined with an HDPE liner.
“You’re looking at a lot of money to replace those lines,” Wallace said. “So what we’re doing is building a spreadsheet and giving them three different grades.”
The first grade is for pipes that have structural problems, which Wallace said are the ones that will have to be replaced due to road sinkage and the risk of losing the pipe.
The second would be for the lines that have flow constrictions, which can lead to sewage backups, he said.
The third grade would be for lines that have sags in them, which causes water, debris and grease to accumulate in the sag. These are the lines that will cause maintenance problems, Wallace said.
“We’re going to go study the videos and make recommendations on these basins about which ones we need to line and replace now,” Wallace said. “Our price in this contract is $75 per foot.”
Wallace said he wanted to make the board aware of the other lines that do not need immediate replacement, but will require extra maintenance in the next few years.

In other action the board approved:
–– Payment in the amount of $254,035 for the Mississippi Water Pollution Control Revolving Loan Fund for the Picayune Wastewater System Rehabilitation project.
The next meeting of the PRC Utility Authority Board of Directors will be held on Thursday, August 20 at 2 p.m. at the Picayune Wastewater Treatment Plant, which is located at 612 Neal Rd.
For more information about the PRC Utility Authority, visit www.prc-ua.org.