With guidance from the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality, Southwestern Community College has instructed ECS Carolinas, LLP, to develop an action plan to address elevated lead levels downhill from the firing range that the college operates off River Road in Sylva.

In an Oct. 29 meeting, college officials met with representatives from NCDEQ, ECS Carolinas and Tuckasegee Wastewater Treatment Authority, which has a facility that neighbors the firing range, as well as Chuck Wooten, Jackson County manager, to discuss results of the most-recent round of testing that detected lead levels above what NCDEQ considers safe.

ECS will produce an action plan by Nov. 20 as requested by Robin Proctor, western area environmental chemist for NCDEQ.  While the plan is being assembled, SCC will take immediate steps to prevent further runoff from the site by installing a new sediment trap as erosion control.

The plan ECS is developing will include a strategy for completely eliminating all future runoff from the site as well as removal of lead currently on the site. 

Proctor emphasized that once preventative measures are taken, lead levels downhill from the range will immediately decrease.

“As long as SCC takes these steps to eliminate the spread, I see no reason to close the site,” Proctor said. “It’s a great site for a range … They need to stop the source of the problem and remove lead from the edge of the range and below.”