Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
Test results on the substance stored in an unlined pit at the city of Sweet Home’s wastewater treatment plant indicate that that it is not hazardous material, the Department of Environmental Quality has determined.
The substance was removed from the plant’s “digester” to allow the installation of a new aeration device in September and was stored in a pit next to the plant.
“We got our tests back in the middle of last month,” said Ragahu Namburi, DEQ water quality specialist. “I’m working on a warning letter.
“We got it looked at by hazardous waste staff. They don’t think it falls into the hazardous waste category but (is) solid waste that was disposed of improperly.”
Namburi described the material as primarily grit and debris, something that would probably be homogenous throughout the pit. The material had been sitting in the digester for 20 years or so. The digester handles material left over after wastewater has been through two major steps and is already treated.
The material is normally taken out of the digester, has the water squeezed out of it and lime added before it is loaded onto trucks and hauled off for use on farms.
To put the new aeration device into the digester basin, the city had to get the material out in a hurry, Public Works Director Mike Adams told The New Era at the end of December. The city had planned to take it to a landfill, but it had to be dewatered first.
The city put the material in an unlined pit inside the treatment plant compound, just over the fence from the Pleasant Valley boat access to the South Santiam River. The city did not contact the DEQ prior to filling the pit.
DEQ is also dealing with another issue related to the replacement of the aeration equipment.
The city reported to DEQ that it recently went out of compliance on permit requirements for solids and CBOD loading for a couple of days to a week. The city ran liquid from the digester basin back through the treatment system.
The city caught the problem during routine testing. The DEQ responded with a letter informing the city that it was out of compliance and asking for an explanation.
A warning letter written by Namburi has been routed through administrators, and it was passed on to the enforcement office in Portland two weeks ago, he said. The enforcement will complete its own findings and then draft a decision, which could potentially include fines or other action.
Namburi said he did not know if the violation would lead to a fine. But the pit will be the second incident in a short period of time, and it could possibly trigger heavier sanctions, such as a civil penalty, than the first.
It could take the enforcement office 30 to 60 days to finalize its own decision on the first incident, Namburi said. A decision on the second would come later. His warning letter will be routed through his administrators and redrafted if necessary before being sent to the DEQ’s enforcement division.