Clean Water Advocacy - Newsroom - NACWA in the News
3 Water Facilities Violate Pollution Rules
By Tony Davis
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 04.13.2006
Two Pima County sewage plants and a South Side environmental
restoration facility violated federal standards 19 times in 18 months for how
much wastewater pollution can be discharged into rivers and washes, says a new
report from an advocacy group.
The county's Roger and Ina road plants together had 11 violations of limits set
by the federal Clean Water Act between July 1, 2003, and Dec. 31, 2004,
according to the Arizona Public Interest Research Group. These were among more
than 210 times that 24 sewage and industrial plants statewide exceeded the
federal standard in that period, according to the group.
In a press release, the group said it had found that more than 44 percent of such plants exceeded their federal discharge-permit limits at least once during that period.
The plant with the most violations was the Nogales International Wastewater Treatment Plant. It racked up 22 in that period but is now scheduled for a $59 million overhaul aimed at improving its performance.
Since the period covered by the report, the Roger Road plant has
significantly cleaned up its act, recording no violations since February 2004.
The Ina Road plant continues to have permit violations, however — four in 2005
and one this Feb. 25. That day, 225,000 gallons of sewage sludge oozed out of a
broken pipeline inside an underground building, which forced shutdown of the
entire plant for 16 hours.
Still, county Wastewater Management officials point out that these numbers are
small compared with the total number of times that the county analyzes
wastewater discharges: 3,100 times in a year and 4,500 times in 18 months at
each plant.
But the county can't afford to pollute any wastewater because its regional water
supply is limited and its population is rapidly growing, said Brad Johnson, a
research group field associate.
Details on the older violations:
● The Roger Road plant exceeded the standard seven times either for fecal
coliform bacteria or chlorine.
● The Ina Road plant exceeded the standard four times for coliform and chlorine.
● Eight of the violations came at the Kino Environmental Restoration Project, a
South Side facility that collects and saves rainwater runoff for use in watering
ball fields at the neighboring Kino Sports Complex. They were also for chlorine,
which the county adds to reclaimed water that is used on the fields in dry
spells when there isn't enough rainwater.
County wastewater officials, however, say they have secured a variance from the federal government allowing them to use higher-than-permitted levels of chlorine to prevent the growth of water-clogging plants inside the pipes.
The county won awards in 2004 and 2005 for these plants' performance from the National Association of Clean Water Agencies because neither plant exceeded the limits five times and the Roger plant had no violations.
● Contact reporter Tony Davis at 806-7746 or tdavis@azstarnet.com.