Dec. 11—CANTON — The town of Canton has less than four months to figure out how its wastewater will be treated as of April 1 of next year — and right now, it has no answers.
The wastewater treatment plant in Canton, part of the old Champion/Pactiv paper mill, is now operating under a modified permit issued Dec. 1. While the permit expires April 30, 2027, a more pressing issue involves how Canton’s wastewater will be treated after this coming March, when a 60-year-old agreement between the town and the mill owner expires.
The current mill owner, Pactiv Evergreen, notified the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality it would only treat the town’s wastewater “until the earliest of the completion of the sales transaction to TBD Utilities LLC or March 2025.”
That gives the town three months to figure out options, and right now it appears to have none.
Canton Mayor Zeb Smathers said it is a rarity for a town’s wastewater to be treated by a private company on private property at no charge.
Therefore, it’s likely the issue of cutting off a town’s access to its only current available option for sewer treatment hasn’t been encountered before.
A DEQ spokesperson, when repeatedly pressed on the issue about what happens in April 2025 when Pactiv stops treating the town’s sewage, said it’s a matter between the company and the town. Pactiv Evergreen representatives have not responded to inquiries about the same question, and the town has few details to provide.
Given that the treatment plant is located on private property, the town has little leverage and no quick alternate options for treating its sewage that is piped directly into the mill’s system.
The current cost to operate the oversized plant that now mostly treats municipal waste was most recently pegged at $424,000 a month. When spread over the town’s 2,400 sewer taps, that would amount to $177 a month for just sewer services, not water. The current base rate is $40 a month.
An added complication is that the town doesn’t know which company it will be dealing with three months from now.
Pactiv Evergreen was actively marketing the property until May when the company entered exclusive negotiations with Spirtas Worldwide. In September, sale plans were announced and were to be finalized by Oct. 1.
Instead, Pactiv sued Spirtas in a Delaware court on Oct. 4 to force the buyer to complete a sale that didn’t take place as scheduled after Tropical Storm Helene ravaged the county and the Canton mill a day before the deal was to close.
Eric Spirtas, the owner of Spirtas Worldwide, told The Mountaineer he still wants to buy the mill but needs to inspect the flood damage and see Pactiv’s insurance policy, neither of which have been made available. Pactiv’s statement to the press was that a fully negotiated and legally binding agreement was made, and the company would pursue all legal options to ensure it was enforced.
The suit is yet to be resolved.
Even though the state is referring all questions about continued wastewater treatment in Canton to town leaders, Smathers had little to say.
“It is our full expectation, based upon conversations with Pactiv Evergreen, that it is their responsibility to maintain and pay for wastewater treatment until March 2025,” Smathers said. “Further it is my understanding that the wastewater treatment plant cannot simply be turned off. Doing so would cause a health emergency.”
In 2023, the state gave Canton a $38 million grant to build a new wastewater treatment plant, a process expected to take six to eight years. No site has yet been found for the plant.
Discharge permit required
Before 1964, all sewage and mill waste was dumped directly into the Pigeon River. That changed with the passage of the federal Clean Water Act which required wastewater to be treated before it was dumped into a river.
At the time, Canton and mill leaders agreed the plant built by the company would handle the town’s wastewater at no charge. The agreement required a two-year notice from either party to terminate, something Pactiv did in March 2023.
In addition, Pactiv applied for a modified permit from N.C. Department of Environmental Quality, which oversees the regulatory process for discharge permits.
Less volume, expense
That permit was issued Dec. 1 to Blue Ridge Paper Products, doing business as Evergreen Packaging. It reduces the wastewater treatment level from its previous 34 million gallons a day to 4.9 million gallons a day.
The modifications firmly cement the new reality for Canton — there will be no major manufacturing operation requiring large amounts of water on the paper mill site Pactiv is aggressively seeking to divest.
Town leaders kicked off the new vision this summer when they changed the property’s industrial zoning into two separate districts on the 195-acre downtown site, one for general business and another for light industrial.
Room for growth
The modified wastewater treatment permit at 4.9 million gallons a day allows room for the town’s growth given that its municipal wastewater ranges between 1-1.2 million gallons a day. Room for growth was one of the comments the town made this summer when weighing in on the permit changes.
“The Town is in general agreement to reduce the flow limit to 4.90 MGD with the understanding that the lower flow limit will allow operational cost savings to due to less staffing requirements,” stated a letter from Town Manager Lisa Stinnett to DEQ. “However, a capacity analysis should be performed to confirm that the WWTP will adequately service the Town of Canton’s current flow.”
The town also asked that the permit holder submit items such as the engineering alternative analysis or any major permit changes to the town for review and that the in- stream monitoring requirements continue.
The final permit incorporated the town’s requested changes and included provisions allowing treatment of wastewater associated with mill activities, landfill leachate, the town of Canton’s municipal wastewater and stormwater runoff.
Additionally, the permit allows treatment of recovered groundwater, black liquor and fuel oil associated with the cleanup work plan set forth by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The permit stipulates there should be no discharge of floating solids or visible foam in other than trace amounts.