Hearing set to address failing septic system at Bragg Estates

By Gregory Phillips Staff writer

SPRING LAKE - Woodrow Mainor remembers leaving his septic tank uncovered overnight after he had it pumped out.

"The next morning, it was full of water," he said. "You couldn't get rid of it."

Mainor lives in Bragg Estates, an unincorporated neighborhood of 173 homes along Vass Road, north of Spring Lake.

Properties there have long struggled with failing septic systems. By 2011, the problems had forced one home to be vacated and six more systems had been declared irreparable. Four other systems were repaired, with one drain field moved to an adjoining property.

"This was a swamp," said Mainor, gesturing from his driveway on Riverside Circle. "There's nothing they can do about it."

Cumberland County plans to try. The county Board of Commissioners will hold a public hearing Monday night and may vote to create a Bragg Estates Water and Sewer District. That would enable the county to seek grants and loans at low interest rates from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Clean Water State Revolving Fund to provide sewer service to the neighborhood.

"It's strictly for sewer," said Jeffery Brown, the county's director of engineering and infrastructure. Aqua, a private company, provides water to the neighborhood.

The county took a similar approach to providing water to the Southpoint neighborhood in Gray's Creek, which had been supplied by tainted wells. Lines were installed, homeowners had the chance to tap in at a reduced fee and anyone who didn't is charged a small monthly access fee.

How those fees would be structured at Bragg Estates would depend on a number of variables not yet known, including the public funding available and the amount of homeowners interested in the service. Any changes are likely years away, with the creation of the district the first step in a very long process.

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Hearing set to address failing septic system at Bragg Estates