Butler marina fined $32,000 for discharging wastewater into Watauga Lake
BUTLER, Tenn. (WJHL) — A Watauga Lake marina faces a $32,000 state fine for violating its wastewater discharge permit, including wastewater overflows from a septic tank that reached the lake.
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The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) levied the fine March 18 against Hank’s Dock, Inc., which operates Mallard Cove Marina not far from the Butler Bridge. The TDEC order includes an up front fine of $6,400, with the remaining amount waivable in whole or part depending on the completion of an adequate replacement system.
The business has 30 days to appeal the order.
The multiple instances of wastewater discharge stretch back at least to Oct. 26, 2023. That’s when TDEC staff inspected the marina in response to a complaint and reported finding pipes underneath a bathhouse discharging wastewater into the lake, as well as wastewater overflowing from a septic tank and reaching the lake.
The order says TDEC’s Division of Water Resources issued a notice of violation Oct. 31 and ordered Carroll VanDeKrol, the owner, to submit an engineer-prepared design proposal for repairing the property’s septic system within 30 days. TDEC staff advised VanDeKrol to try and keep sewage below ground until the system was fully repaired, including by pumping the septic tank.
The order notes that tracing dye showed overflows into the lake in early December and again in early February 2024.
TDEC staff put tracing dye into the system and visited on four dates in November but found no discharge into the lake on follow-up visits. But on Dec. 5, a resident told them the septic tank had been pumped following the dye’s introduction. Staff then put dye into a toilet, and saw wastewater overflowing from the septic tank, into a French drain and then into the lake.
TDEC staff met VanDeKrol at the marina Feb. 15 and reviewed site conditions. He emailed TDEC Feb. 23 and said he had contacted two engineering firms “and would meet them onsite to discuss options for an acceptable septic treatment system.”
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