Public Service Announcement

CCSA Expands Its Customer Base And Makes Upgrades In 2019

By Tom Bauhan

Even though the Clarke County Sanitary Authority (CCSA) receives the occasional phone call regarding trash collection, the CCSA is actually responsible for the public water and sewer systems that serve the Town of Boyce, the villages of Millwood and White Post (water only), and commercial uses at the intersection of U.S. 50 and U.S. 340. As a public utility, the CCSA also manages the wastewater facilities owned by Clarke County.

The CCSA is a governmental corporation created by the Board of Supervisors in 1988.

Because of new residential water and sewer connections within service areas, CCSA expanded its customer base by fi ve percent over the past two years. It now serves a total of 472 water and 363 sewer connections, representing more than 2,000 residents in southern Clarke County.

“The majority of our expansion last year was again due to planned new home construction within the Town of Boyce, mostly at the Boyce Crossing community,” said CCSA Chair Rod DeArment. “After several years of near dormant home building in the county, we’re now seeing a substantial uptick in demand for CCSA services.” The new connections benefi t CCSA and the community it serves in two ways. First, new one-time connection fees, “availability fees” typically paid by the home builder prior to sale, are the primary source of funds for system capital improvements. Second, the added number of paying customers helps, through economies of scale, to mitigate the need for rate increases for all.

A good example of a recent capital improvement was the replacement in 2019 of the fi ltration membranes and refurbishment of the membrane tanks at the Boyce Sewage Treatment Plant.

This fi ltration system, which has about a 10-year service life, is critical for enabling Clarke County’s compliance with state and federal limits for nitrogen and phosphorus discharge under the Chesapeake Bay Protection Program. Moreover, CCSA is already seeing payback in the form of substantially reduced chemicals needed for daily operation of the plant. While the customer base has grown, CCSA and Clarke County have ensured capacity for the long term. Thanks to the county’s investments, the permitted capacity of the Boyce plant is currently 99,000 gallons per day.

“That’s nearly double our current peak demand fl ow even with the recent added connections,” said Mark Inboden of Inboden Environmental Services, Inc. (IES), which manages the water and sewer systems.

“The county’s investments and foresight have helped ensure the Boyce facility is able to handle future demand and meet ever increasing environmental regulations in the years to come,” Inboden said.

For information on CCSA, visit clarkecounty.gov or call (540) 955- 5185 or email ccsa@clarkecounty.gov.

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Getting The Yard Ready For Spring

Ask an Environmental Expert at Blandy Experimental Farm and the State Arboretum of Virginia

by Chris Schmidt, Arborist

Now is the perfect time to get a jumpstart on the garden chores most people leave until springtime is upon them. At Blandy Experimental Farm and the State Arboretum of Virginia, we’re very busy doing all the tasks we won’t have time for once the growing season commences. Yes, you may have to bundle up in a good warm jacket, but once you’re working, you’ll soon forget about the winter temperatures!

Here are a few chores that are easier to accomplish now, instead of when everything in your yard is exploding with growth.

Corrective prune your trees and shrubs

This means removing any dead, dying, diseased, broken, or misplaced stems or branches. It’s much easier to identify all of these when there are no leaves blocking your view. “Misplaced” refers to any crossing or rubbing stems, or stems that grow toward the center of the plant. If any diseased branches are evident, prune back into healthy tissue and always sterilize your pruners before and after each

Winter aconite at Blandy.

Geothermal Scott Heating and Cooling Geothermal Scott Quality Work — Reasonable Rates cut with Lysol or 70% etha- nol to prevent spreading the disease. Burn these limbs or place them in a trash bag and dispose of them.

Remember, don’t prune early spring fl owering shrubs now because you’ll be removing this year’s fl ower buds. Wait until they fi nish blooming.

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Clean up debris that has accumulated over the winter

Collect downed limbs and branches. Mats of leaves that can suffocate emerging growth or that have become entangled in shrub branches should be removed. This is also a great time to pull up early weeds before they have the chance to set seed. If birds are fi nished stripping seed heads of herbaceous perennials that were left over the winter, cut back the dead stalks now. Edging beds produces a nice, crisp look and helps keep creeping invasive grasses such as Bermuda grass from growing into your gardens.

Follow these chores with an application of slow-release organic fertilizers around any plants that have special fertilizer needs. For other plants,

Chris Schmidt pruning.

topdressing with compost is suffi cient. Also, remember to check any plant identifi cation labels that may have faded over the winter!

Mulch your beds.

I fi nd one of the most satisfying late winter projects is mulching beds. Mulch serves many purposes: It helps reduce

mulched up to their bases.

Mulch around trees and shrubs, especially those with shallow roots. They don’t compete well with the grasses growing under them. Put down a mulch layer two to four inches deep around the tree trunk. Note: Never place mulch right up against the bark at the base of the trunk

What’s blooming at Blandy this month?

Our earliest spring bulb, the winter aconite, is in full bloom on Dogwood Lane and in the Picnic Grove. The winter jasmine is blooming along the rock wall also along Dogwood Lane, and the Japanese cornelian cherry in the Dogwood Collection is in full bloom. The cornelian cherry

HANDMADE DAILY! also is in bud. (Fun fact: Technically, these two cornelian cherry trees are both dogwoods but two separate species.) The American fi lberts have hundreds of catkins dangling from them, and the witch hazels are almost fi nished fl owering. Spring is just around the corner!

Blandy Experimental Farm is a center for outstanding environmental research and education set within the natural beauty and remarkable collections of the State Arboretum of Virginia. Please visit our outdoor laboratory and living museum, open from dawn to dusk 365 days a year.

If you have questions for our environmental experts, please ask at blandy@virginia.edu.

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Jared Manzo edging.

weed growth and moisture loss. It also helps regulate the soil temperature. Organic mulch will eventually decompose, adding nutrients to the soil.

Perennials are dormant right now and can be covered with several inches of mulch. Once they start growing, they’ll simply push through the mulch. Other herbaceous plants that still show leaves above the ground can be of the tree – the volcano look – since this allows moisture to build up on the trunk and encourages disease development. Checking off these outdoor chores from your to-do list will allow you to enjoy the fi rst beautiful days of spring with not only a great sense of satisfaction but with extra time to observe what is happening in your own yard.