Engineering Report on Land Treatment Evaluation, Archaeological Survey of the Proposed Looper's Bend Land Disposal Area, Dalton, Georgia (Volume I and II)

Facilities planning for wastewater management by Dalton Utilities (EPA Project Number C-130454) shows that land treatment of Dalton wastewater is the most consistent and cost effective treatment process. It provides pollution abatement while conserving energy and recycling resources. Alternative advanced treatment processes and water reuse schemes employ physical-chemical processes with high energy demand and advanced wastewater treatment processes that do not consistently remove some of the complex organic compounds occasionally present in Dalton wastewater. Environmental studies were accomplished in the Whitfield county area of the facilities plan, but not for the land treatment area which is in Murray County. The purpose of the Archeological, vegetative, and wildlife surveys involved in this study is to extend the previous environmental studies to the actual land treatment site in Murray County. The studies are specifically designed to take the ultimate land use into account, can be used for completing the facilities plan, and will be useful for evaluating land treatment on a site specific basis. The Georgia Water Control Act and implementing regulations require the Environmental Protection Division (EPD) review and approval of preliminary (Phase I) and site specific (Phase II) engineering as well as subsequently developed plans and specifications for land treatment systems. EPD has concurred with the Phase I report for the Looper property in Murray and Whitfield Counties as a basis for the site specific Phase II studies and report. The Phase I, or preliminary, engineering report included design criteria and site limitation criteria based on limited reconnaissance and published climatological, geologic, soil and groundwater data and on general correlations of soil type and percolation rates developed by the Soil Conservation Service. The Phase I study did not include archaeological vegetative and wildlife surveys. The following report is the compilation of the archaeological, vegetative and wildlife surveys for 5000 acres of area known as the Loopers property which forms the core of the land treatment area. The work was performed by Wiedeman and Singleton, Inc., primarily by subcontract with Dr. Betty Smith and the Forest and Wildlife Management Service, respectively. Volume I of the Archaeological Vegetative, and Wildlife Surveys, published May, 1980 covered an area in Dalton known as the Loopers Bend property. In the preliminary design analysis this acreage was not sufficient to support treatment of anticipated waste loads. As a result a second adjoining tract of land (approximately 4500 acres) has been proposed for use in the land treatment of Dalton wastewater. As in the original 5000 acres, archaeological, vegetative and wildlife surveys were conducted. The following report is the compilation of findings for the second 4500 acres adjoining the Loopers Bend property.