The Piney Mountain (PM) subdivision has both a community wastewater system and individual homeowner on-site wastewater systems. Most PM homes are connected to the community (OWASA) wastewater collection system. Red Wolf lots have individual on-site septic systems that discharge to private drainfields.
The wastewater disposal arrangements for the community system are unique and have evolved from litigation initiated in the mid-1990s when the original North State Utilities (NSU) designed community septic fields failed.
Since the mid-1990s, community wastewater has been pumped by the Orange Water And Sewage Authority (OWASA) from the neighborhood pump station to the City of Durham sewer main at the intersection of Kerley and Mt. Sinai Roads. OWASA owns, operates and maintains the PM pump station and force mains to which individual homeowner systems and the City of Durham are connected. The City of Durham bills OWASA for treating PM wastewater. Durham’s fee is based on the total gallons of wastewater discharged into their system through the OWASA connection. OWASA adds their service fees to the charges from the City of Durham and apportions these costs on a monthly basis to the PM connected lots.
For FAQs and an overview of the PM sewage system click here
For OWASA information, click here
For information on system inspections, click here.
For a listing of Orange County certified Wastewater System Operators and Contractors click here.
For a diagram of the PM wastewater system, please refer to the FAQs linked above.