The Bingham Facility

	DENR Wastewater Irrigation System Permit USDA inspection report Consultant reports Correspondence with the N.C. Department of Agriculture Correspondence with the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources Messages to neighbors and Preserve Rural Orange Response to PRO questions Response to PRO proposal Correspondence with Orange County Correspondence with the National Institutes of Health Correspondence with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers UNC News Release Public Notice Bingham Facility Organizational Structure
	Useful Links:
		Campus Maps
		Visitor Parking
		Chapel Hill Transit
		Carolina North

The Bingham Facility

The Bingham Facility is an animal research facility owned and operated by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in western Orange County since the early 1970s. The facility supports the University’s leading biomedical research of genetic diseases, finding gene therapy to cure diseases such as hemophilia and muscular dystrophy, by housing colonies of dogs that have these diseases. In the past, the facility has also housed swine with heart disease. Because of its off-campus location, the facility is also used for the temporary preventative quarantine of new animals (mice, birds and some primates) before research animals on main campus are exposed to them.

In 2008, the University’s long-range plan was to expand the Bingham Facility, a plan that included replacing the wastewater treatment system from the 1970s with one that had the capacity to handle the waste that an expanded facility would generate. The system used a biological treatment process to reduce biodegradable wastes and nutrients and ultraviolet light to disinfect the wastewater. This highly treated wastewater was then discharged into synthetically lined ponds, where it was held until weather and soil conditions allowed it to be spray irrigated.

This wastewater treatment system began to experience a series of problems in late 2009, including a leak from the largest holding pond that allowed some of the highly treated wastewater to reach a tributary of Collins Creek. Because of the problems, the University has temporarily shut down the wastewater treatment system on the site and is hauling the facility’s wastewater directly to OWASA. The incidents resulted in two notices of violation from the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources, which regulates the wastewater treatment system. The violations were for the method of discharge, not because any contamination of the soil, groundwater or creek occurred. The University is working with DENR to ensure compliance with all applicable regulations.

In February 2010, Chancellor Holden Thorp appointed Bob Lowman, associate vice chancellor for research, to oversee the Bingham Facility, and the University has established an ongoing dialogue with the facility’s neighbors and with representatives of Preserve Rural Orange.

In April 2010, the National Institutes of Health awarded the University a $14.5 million grant to fund the construction of two new buildings to house additional animals for research on genetic diseases. The grant did not fully cover the costs of more sophisticated wastewater treatment system, upgrades to utilities and a building for veterinary services and staff. After much deliberation, University senior leadership concluded that pursuing the NIH-funded expansion would require more costly infrastructure upgrades than had been anticipated. At the end of July 2010, Dr. William Roper, dean of the UNC School of Medicine and principal investigator, notified the NIH that the University was relinquishing the grant.

Bingham Facility Organizational Structure

DENR Wastewater Irrigation System Permit

USDA inspection report

Closure report for incinerator (2010)

Potable water supply well testing results (2010)

Consultant reports

Correspondence with the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services

Correspondence with the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources