Membrane On The Mountain Concept Submitted to Thrasher Engineering / Pocahontas Public Service District

Eight Rivers Safe Development - at the request of Thrasher Engineering and the Pocahontas Public Service District - submitted the concept and outlined the benefits of constructing a new membrane plant located on the mountain near the Snowshoe / Silver Creek resorts.

The "Membrane On The Mountain" concept is to be evaluated by Thrasher Engineering as an alternative to a regional plant located in the Big Spring Fork Valley and which discharges to the Elk River.

The Membrane On The Mountain Concept:

Construct a new membrane biological reactor on the mountain at a suitable location where it could receive and treat - with minimal additional infrastructure - the sewage from both Snowshoe and Silver Creek. The effluent from this new plant would discharge into Shavers Fork.

The plant would be owned and operated by the Pocahontas Public Service District and would provide wastewater treatment services to the businesses and residences in the resort areas on the mountain who would be charged a fee for this service.

Potential advantages for the Membrane On The Mountain alternative are:

1. Eliminates the need for a new and expensive pipeline off the mountain (1500 ft elevation drop) to a regional plant located at Site #7. This also would reduce spill potential and reduce pipeline maintenance expense.

2. Eliminates the negative aesthetics (odor and visual) of a sewage plant at the entrance to the resort area.

3. Membrane plants produce an ultra-pure water effluent and are particularly applicable for use in environmentally sensitive areas - such as headwater streams and ecotourist / recreational areas.

4. The effluent from the Membrane On The Mountain plant would discharge into Shavers Fork - rather than the Elk River.

Snowshoe/Silver Creek water supply is obtained from Shavers Lake - a headwater dam/impoundment on Shavers Fork.

The existing Snowshoe wastewater treatment plant discharges to Cupp Run - a tributary of Big Spring Fork of the Elk River. Which means any water used by Snowshoe is taken from Shavers Fork and transferred to the Elk River via the existing water/wastewater system as it is currently configured.

This interbasin transfer load will increase if a regional plant is built in the Big Spring Fork Valley due to the addition of the Silver Creek Resort wastewater to the system.

With the Membrane on the Mountain concept, effluent is returned to Shavers Fork which eliminates the current (and future increased) inter-basin water transfer from Shavers Fork to the Elk River.

5. The availability of this ultra-pure membrane effluent could enable recycling of this water for snow-making or other purposes (purple pipe water, fire protection). Other ski resorts are already practicing this water conserving snowmaking technology known as "Snowfluent".

Having an alternative source of water for snowmaking/fire protection would also save pumping costs vs water obtained from the Shavers Lake or other impoundments.

While not part of the PSD Project, water recycling would provide Intrawest an opportunity to invest in water / energy conservation projects which will not only benefit the resorts bottom line (lower operating cost) but also the environment.

In addition, there are grants available to fully or partially pay for infrastructure projects to recycle water and reduce power consumption - so that the actual investment required to make this a reality might be minimal. This also would generate positive PR for the resort, and help it achieve its goal as a member of the “Sustainable Slopes” group of ski resorts focused on green initiatives.

Eight Rivers Safe Development will continue to advocate this concept as an alternative to a regional plant located in the Big Spring Fork or Elk River valleys.