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Wastewater plant sends foamy discharge into creek

By Diana Penner and Bill McCleery The Indianapolis Star

FORTVILLE, Ind. (Feb. 16, 2000) -- A chemical release into sewers Tuesday overwhelmed the town's wastewater treatment plant, resulting in a foamy discharge to Flat Fork Creek for much of the day.

From the treatment plant, the creek runs into a section of Fall Creek that leads into Geist Reservoir, which is a source of water for Indianapolis Water Co. customers.

An Indianapolis Water Co. spokeswoman said there was no immediate effect on drinking water.

And though the foamy discharge sounds much like the deadly spill in Anderson in December, when more than 88 tons of fish died in White River, no dead fish were reported by late Tuesday in Fortville.

The Indiana Department of Environmental Management sent a response team to Fortville to assist.

Robert Sterrett, Fortville town manager, said that between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. Tuesday, the town's treatment workers began noticing a problem with high ammonia levels and foaming.

He said he suspected the source was U.S. Filter Co., formerly Abrasive Products.

U.S. Filter officials said they did not think they were responsible for the problem, according to spokesman Russ Grunden of the state environmental agency. Agency officials spoke with U.S. Filter representatives soon after the foaming was reported.

The U.S. Filter plant, located about one mile from the treatment facility, takes in rusty mechanical parts and cleans them. It also coats parts with substances designed to prevent future rust.

Bob Lane, superintendent of Fortville's treatment facility, said officials are looking at the possibility that either cleaning solvents or sodium nitrate, used in the antirust process, are likely culprits behind Tuesday's incident.

Whatever it was that came into the treatment facility caused the plant to spew out water with ammonia levels of about 5 parts per million, Sterrett said.

That compares to the allowable 1.6 parts per million and the plant's typical release of 0.1 parts per million, Lane said.

The result was a foamy substance that was as much as 4 feet deep for about seven hours, Sterrett said.

However, the fish the treatment facility keeps in final clarification tanks showed no signs of distress, he said.

Sterrett said the fish are used similarly to canaries used by coal miners of old -- if the birds had trouble breathing or died, that sent a warning to miners.

By 3 p.m., ammonia levels had been reduced to about 2 parts per million, Lane said.

Telephone messages left after normal business hours for officials at U.S. Filter were not returned.

Sterrett said it's not the first time releases from U.S. Filter had caused a discharge of higher ammonia.

http://www.starnews.com/news/citystate/2000/feb/0216st_spill.html

-- Dee (T1Colt556@aol.com), February 16, 2000