On July 26, 2004, Thom McConathy took a tour of the Salmon Creek facility with the facility’s manager, Kay Hurst. Thom was hoping to discuss problems with the facility’s planned expansion to accommodate Battleground’s growth and the foul odors stemming from Battleground’s wastewater contribution.
When Mr. McConathy arrived at 9:00am (per his scheduled appointment with the manager), it appeared that there was no staff to be found. Mr. McConathy had to rattle doors in order to enter the lab of the facility since there was no one available to direct him to his meeting place.
Ms. Hurst appeared at one of the doors Mr. McConathy had just opened, introduced herself, and then commenced with a walking tour of the plant that took about an hour. The tour began at primary treatment, followed by secondary treatment, then closing with the sludge solidification operation.
While touring the sludge solidification operation, Mr. McConathy observed three different tandem (double loader) dump trucks that were being front-end loaded with solid sludge taken from three 20′x50′x200′ covered collection bins. The sludge in these bins had been completely treated (cooked for over 30 days at high temperatures) and solidified with the addition of a polymer. However, the sludge is filled with nutrients that are toxic to the environment unless correctly applied.
The front-end loader entered the bins, picked up a large scoop of sludge, and then loaded this sludge into the waiting dump trucks. The scoop of the front-end loader was sprayed with a jet of water from a stationery fire-hose in order to rinse off sludge that had accumulated on the outer surface of the scoop. The fire-hose was pumping at constant full force, and the sludge-laden runoff was collected by drains in the floor of the sludge room.
Mr. McConathy questioned Ms. Hurst as to where the runoff water from this fire-hose was going. She responded that it was being directed to outdoor stormwater collection facilities (grassy swales that surround the Wastewater Treatment Facility). Water from such stormwater swales would be washed directly into Salmon Creek during a flood event, meaning that sludge-laden stormwater would be washed into the creek’s flow, which is a violation of the Clean Water Act.
Ms. Hurst was extremely agitated and angry during her response to Mr. McConathy’s question. She explained that this activity (arrival of dump trucks and operation of the firehose) takes place over a period of six days throughout the year, and this process involves over 100 dump truck loads.
Mr. McConathy then asked Ms. Hurst if this rinsing activity was in keeping with the Wastewater Treatment Facility’s Operations Manual. Ms. Hurst became even more angry, and refused to answer this question. This discourse abruptly ended Mr. McConathy’s tour of the facility. Ms. Hurst immediately directed Mr. McConathy to the exit, and then locked the door behind him.
Mr. McConathy immediately reported this incident to Kurt Pietch, one of Washington State Department of Ecology’s Spill Responders. By the time Mr. Pietch arrived around 4:00pm (traveling from Olympia) to inspect the operation at the facility, the front gates were locked and he could not conduct an investigation. Mr. Pietch sent another investigator the following day, but they have not yet relayed their observations.
The following morning at about 8:15am, on July 24, 2004, Mr. McConathy received a call from Cary Armstrong of Clark County’s Environmental Division. Mr. Armstrong is Kay Hurst’s supervisor. Mr. Armstrong said that he would visit the Salmon Creek Wastewater Treatment Facility and observe operations. That afternoon at about 4:30pm, Mr. Armstrong called Mr. McConathy again and said that the water from the drains in the sludge collection room was internally processed through a valid wastewater treatment facility and that these drains were not connected to the outdoor stormwater facility as Ms. Hurst has previously indicated.
Mr. McConathy asked Mr. Armstrong how he knew the outdoor stormwater facilities were not involved in this rinsing process, and Mr. Armstrong responded that he physically traced the drains from the sludge room to the treatment facility that processed the rinse water. Mr. McConathy requested schematics of the stormdrains and the sludge drains in order to verify Mr. Armstrong’s claim that these facilities are not conjoined. Mr. Armstrong promised to send these schematics immediately, but they have not yet been received.
The question remains, why would Ms. Hurst behave so oddly if there was not some inherent problem in the design of the treatment facility or within the operations manual?
Mr. McConathy asked Mr. Armstrong if this fire-hose rinsing activity was part of the Wastewater Treatment Facility’s Operations Manual, and Mr. Armstrong replied that it was not. This activity is a violation of the facility’s current wastewater treatment permit. However,there are procedures that the County can pursue in order to alter the Operations Manual and perhaps alter the design of the facility (by engineers) in order to ensure compliance with the permit. Citations for such permit violations are decided by the Washington State Department of Ecology. There has not yet been an indication that a citation will be issued in response to this incident.
On May 4, 2004, the Columbian reported (“Five sewage plants receive flawless grades”) that the Salmon Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant (operated by the Hazel Dell Sewer District) received a “perfect compliance” grade from the Department of Ecology. Since the fire-hose rinsing activity in the sludge room is in violation of the Salmon Creek plant’s wastewater treatment permit, this plant is obviously not in “perfect compliance.”
