OEPA may reverse decision about Delta 'trap and treat'

By DAVID J. COEHRS

Expositor Features Editor

DELTA - A possible turnabout by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency would permit the Village of Delta to incorporate a "trap and treat" method for sewage treatment rather than the mandated sewer separation project it says it can't afford.

But the OEPA has made it clear the village's plan for a storm retention basin must be proven viable before it will greenlight the project.

A meeting held Oct. 9 in Columbus between village officials and OEPA representatives established that the village will be given a chance to forego the estimated $16 million, 20-year Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) Long Term Control Plan in favor of an estimated $3.5 million storm retention basin. The meeting was attended by Mayor Dan Miller, Administrator Derek Allen, Law Director Michelle Kranz and wastewater treatment plant supervisor Larry Born.

Conditions of the agreement include repairs to the treatment plant and a study to determine how to keep violations to a maximum of four per year.

Plant employees began work Tuesday on $250,000 in repairs on pumps and a chlorine unit to eradicate problems with ammonia and suspended solids. That cost includes installation by March 2010 of a new control unit purchased from the Fluidyne Corporation of Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Following the study, to be conducted next summer by an outside company, additional repairs may be necessary.

Village council members on Monday approved the first reading of a resolution authorizing a request for engineering firm qualifications to design a retention basin.

The study and improvements are to be financed by a CSO fund created through established sewer rate increases. The fund generates about $40,000 annually.

Miller said the OEPA's reversal is the result of negotiations begun with the village in March 2008.

"We've been making positive steps; we haven't just been giving lip service to the EPA," he said.

Miller and Allen, along with the village council, have long maintained that the village cannot afford the state-mandated CSO plan. A request to instead devise a storm retention basin for the sanitary sewers was denied June 29 by the OEPA's Division of Surface Water.

In a letter to the village, division manager Paul Nowak noted multiple wastewater discharge violations every month but one between March 2006 and April 2009. He said an accompanying 22-page list of recorded violations showed "significant non-compliance" with the village's wastewater permit.

At that time, OEPA spokesperson Dina Pierce said because the village can't handle peak flows of 2.2 million gallons of wastewater during heavy storms, "to let them try to treat more wouldn't serve any purpose. Under the current circumstances, there's no way."

Allen said during the Oct. 9 meeting the village committed to reducing violations at the wastewater treatment plant. The village's inability to bankroll the CSO plan was also discussed.

"We told them we want to be partners with the OEPA and not have an adversarial relationship," Allen said. "We all have the same goals. I think everybody had different ideas about how to obtain that outcome. I'm confident that we will demonstrate to the EPA that we're serious about eliminating violations."

Ultimately, the OEPA relented due to the cost of a CSO plan, spokesperson Heather Lauer said.

"We're very mindful of the position that local communities are in, as far as money is concerned. But we also know communities need a safe and healthy environment," she said. "It doesn't mean we are absolutely going to approve 'trap and treat.'"

The OEPA's opinion remains that sewer separation would be more effective, so the village will have to prove its "trap and treat" plan and work schedule are viable, she said.

"The bottom line is, you can't have untreated sewage going into the stream. It's unhealthy, and it violates the law," Lauer said.

Allen said much credit goes to Miller because "he knew this had to happen, and he's been very diligent about it."

Miller said a timetable for completing a retention basin will be devised following next year's study. The village is better equipped for an accurate study now that nearly $300,000 has been spent over three years to clean and maintain the sewer system.

He said the retention basin could be in place within a couple of years, hopefully by the time the village has finished paying off the wastewater treatment plant in four years.

"Our legal team did a fantastic job in preparing," the mayor said. "The meeting went very well, and I was very pleased."