August 16, 2009 in City

Phosphate detergent ban seems to be working

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CHRISTOPHER ANDERSON photo

Mike Coster checks Wednesday on one of six experimental treatment processes being run at Spokane’s wastewater treatment facility to determine how to best meet phosphorus standards.
(Full-size photo)(All photos)

The storyline of the near-ban on phosphorus in dish detergent in Spokane County has focused on scofflaws sneaking Cascade across the state line in a dogged attempt to keep their dishes sparkling.

The headline in the Los Angeles Times: “The dirty truth: They’re smuggling soap in Spokane.”

But a year after Spokane County became the only place in the country to ban dishwasher detergents made up of more than 0.5 percent phosphorus, there’s a new storyline:

It’s working.

Data show that water coming into Spokane’s sewage plant in the first 12 months after the ban began had 10.7 percent less phosphorus than the annual average the previous three years. That amounts to 181 pounds of phosphorus each day and is better than expected.

What flows into the river from the plant likely isn’t affected much by the new law because treatment pulls out much of the phosphorus, said Mike Coster, plant operations superintendent. The biggest impact is for homes on septic or drain field systems, in which water – and phosphorus – filter back into the groundwater.

“Any phosphorus reduction you can see there is going to have benefit to the river,” Coster said. “It’s not the total answer, but it’s one step.”

In the next few years, however, plant officials say the ban could help meet what is expected to be the most stringent phosphorus standard in the nation.

“It could have huge effects later on,” Coster said, adding that with less coming into the plant, fewer chemicals will be needed to extract it.

Grand experiment

Phosphorus isn’t dangerous to humans, but in rivers and lakes, it spurs algae growth that can pull oxygen from the water, killing fish. The problem has been intense in Long Lake, where treated wastewater along the Spokane River ultimately flows.

On average, Spokane discharges 38 million gallons of treated water daily. By 2014, an addition to the plant, expected to cost about $130 million, will cut phosphorus emissions by 10 times or more, according to the city.

J.B. Neethling, senior vice president of engineering firm HDR Inc., said the new detergent rules benefit wastewater plants and the environment.

“The best strategy is to keep it out of the water in the first place,” said Neethling, who is leading an investigation into removing nutrients such as phosphorus from sewage for the Water Environment Research Foundation.

Spokane’s plant, which borders Riverside State Park and treats all wastewater from Spokane, Spokane Valley and Spokane County sewers, diverts a million gallons of sewage a day to six experimental treatment systems designed by five different companies to determine how best to meet the new standards.

The experiment, expected to last through next year, is likely the largest-scale trial in the country examining how best to reduce phosphorus, plant officials say.

Final rules for phosphorus are still being debated by local, state and federal officials. Wastewater dischargers have expressed unease with earlier proposed standards that said treated water should have no more phosphorus than what’s naturally in the river, about 10 parts of phosphorus for every billion parts of water. Environmental groups, however, have argued that federal water law requires those tough standards and that dischargers may underestimate the ability of new technology.

“That’s what the plant will teach us,” Neethling said while touring the experimental stations last week with a group of wastewater experts. “Is there a fraction that is just not responding to treatment? That fraction could be higher than the 8 to 10 (parts per billion).”

Plant officials say they’re comfortable saying the new process will release between 50 and 75 parts of phosphorus per billion parts of water. The plant currently discharges about 750 ppb.

“We get some (readings from experimental stations) down in the 20s, but we get a lot of them up in the 100s too,” said Lars Hendron, the plant’s principal engineer. “We have to be careful that we don’t look for that real great number and figure we can hit it all the time, because it really does bounce around a lot.”

The extra treatment should help pull more than phosphorus from the sewage. Wastewater Director Dale Arnold said officials will consider effects on metals and other pollutants, costs and other factors before selecting a new treatment process.

Crossing the border

There’s little doubt that some Spokane residents buy their dish detergent in Idaho, a practice that is perfectly legal. (It’s illegal to sell in Spokane County, not to use.)

One of those using so-called “smuggled” detergent is Spokane resident Melissa Barnett.

She and other residents in her apartment building gave up on the phosphorus-free detergent after trying several brands, Barnett said Friday afternoon at Safeway at Mission and Hamilton.

“All my dishes turned white,” she said, adding that she often had to hand-wash her dishes after pulling them from the dishwasher. “We like to save the earth, but come on, we like clean dishes.”

Colleen Phillips, of Spokane, however, prefers the new detergents. When the ban first pulled her preferred brand off the shelf last year, she questioned the law.

“I was kind of a little upset because I didn’t know what to pick,” she said after shopping at Albertsons at Northwest Boulevard and Ash Street on Friday.

But now Phillips says the new version has worked so well on her dishes that she’s taken to dabbing it on a sponge and using it to cut grease on her stove and to clean her tub.

A study released in the August issue of Consumer Reports appears to confirm the tales of the smugglers: “Detergents without phosphates … tended to perform worst overall,” the study said. The examination is somewhat of a reversal from the magazine’s 2005 study that ranked phosphorus-free Trader Joe’s powder the second-best detergent of 20 tested. (The Trader Joe’s brand wasn’t part of the new study.)

Of the 18 tested detergents, none of seven phosphorus-free brands was ranked in the top five. Two phosphorus-free choices, however, broke into the top 10. The best rated, Method Smarty Dish tablets, earned an “excellent” ranking for dish cleaning and “fair” for cleaning pots. The report ranked Simplicity 2 in 1 as the second-best phosphorus-free option. Jon Roman, manager of grocery procurement for URM Stores, said grocery stores in Spokane are expanding detergent offerings as companies introduce phosphorus-free versions. URM distributes to Rosauers, Yoke’s and other stores.

In recent months, top-selling Cascade re-entered the Spokane market with a new gel. Later this month, Western Family also will be back on the shelves, Roman said.

Rachael Paschal Osborn, Spokane River coordinator for the Sierra Club, said the results from the detergent law show consumers can make a significant impact on the phosphorus problem in Long Lake.

“That’s a huge percentage to just be able to knock out of the plant like that,” she said. “We’re literally leading the nation here in Spokane County, which is pretty amazing if you think about it.”

10 comments on this story so far. Add yours!

• 

  cryssT on August 16 at 11:27 a.m.

  glad that it is helping. most folks don’t remember when laundry detergent went phosphate free back in the 70’s and there was lots of grousing. it’s more important to save the lakes than to whine about dishes that can be washed by hand if you don’t like how the dishwasher ‘cleans’ them.

• 

  dkerns on August 16 at 12:08 p.m.

  Seems that they could have gotten that pitiful 10% decrease by taking out an ad in the paper asking folks to use the weaker formulation.
  Is it somehow more noble to drive Washington dollars to Idaho?
  As it is, folks are still “choosing”, just like always.
  Sheesh.

• 

  Ron_the_Cop on August 16 at 12:38 p.m.

  Jonathan,

  Your treading on thin ice:-) While probably appropriate, you did not disclose the elephant in the room - the Inland Empire Paper Co, a wholly owned co of the Cowles Co. While you don’t normally write environmental articles, former S-R environmental reporter Jim Hagengruber may have let too much out of the bag in his story where this graphic appeared of point source phosphate contributors to the Spokane River appeared.

  As I said in my piece below:

  “In case any one’s keeping book the Inland Empire Paper plant (Owned by the Cowles) by concentration as a point source of phosphates to the Spokane River is second largest contributor just behind the entire City of Spokane. The Cowles Co. was a behind the scenes player in the 80’s raid on Liberty Lake sewer project that left that city with excess sewerage capacity that the citizens of Liberty Lake were left paying for. A similar MO? ”

  ‘Sewer Wars’ a Redux - Law extends time limit for Spokane River cleanup

  http://friendsofmarkfuhrman.org/blog/?p=139

• 

  wyoboy on August 16 at 1:32 p.m.

  Low phosphate detergents have been required in Michigan for decades. Nothing new there. Phosphate is also is a key ingredient in “Roudup” weed killer.

  So don’t kill the weeds.

  A better option is to remove it at the treatment plants before it is discharged, then sell it to Monsanto.

  A significant amount of phosphate is mined on the Wyoming Idaho border. It comes from the Phosphoria Formation.

• 

  MIssSpokane on August 17 at 1:54 a.m.

  Although I do care about the environment and have a personal interest in the health of the Spokane River and Long Lake, I have to say that the non-phosphorous dishwasher detergents I have tried do not work very well! The main issue I have is they leave a white film on my glassware and on any dark-colored dishes. I now add a couple tablespoons of laundry bleach in the start cycle and only add the detergent to the first wash cycle. The helps a lot and seems to boost the detergent and also helps rid my dishes of the film. I have also been guilty of smuggling Cascade LIquid Gel Tabs from Idaho a couple times… sorry for being bad, but that is the best I have used. I guess I should buck up and do my part for the environment, but when I do, please excuse my cloudy drinking glasses and filmy dishes when you come over for a beverage and/or a meal. :-/ P.S.. does anyone know if that white filmy stuff left behind on my dishes when I don’t add bleach is bad for my health? Also, is bleach in our sewer system harmful If so, why is that not banned as well. (Please.. I hope I don’t give anyone in the banning department the idea.)

• 

  Megan_B on August 17 at 9:17 a.m.

  The non-phosphorous dishwasher detergents may be better for the environment, BUT, they destroy dishwashers. I heard so from several dishwasher repair personnel that in short time coming, a lot of dishwashers will have to be replaced because of the buildup form the detergent. Now how many people are going to be able to recycle 100% of their broken dishwashers. Disposing all of the broken appliances to the dump isn’t exactly good for the environment either.

• 

  jonathanb on August 17 at 3:35 p.m.

  Hi Ron,

  I am aware of Inland Empire’s phosphorus output (http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2009/feb/20/river-cleanup-could-lengthen/). However, the paper plant does not handle city or county sewage . Therefore, its wastewater is not affected by the soap rules and they were not included in the story, which focused on the first anniversary of the new phosphorus limits on detergent.

  Jonathan

• 

  Ron_the_Cop on August 17 at 3:51 p.m.

  Jonathan,

  True. I said not mentioning the Cowles connection to the phosphate load in the River was probably appropriate. However readers need to know the connection of the IEP in the over all phosphate load of the River. There is a much bigger game afoot and it all has to do about the water or more importantly the run off/effluent from the Spokane Valley and who’s going to pay for the infrastructure to clean the water.

  I’ve made the analogy that this fight is similar to the water wars of the early 20’s in the LA Basin Region that was fictionalized in the period genre movie, “Chinatown.” There are many similarities then to the political landscape in the Valley as the major stakeholders e.g., Cowles Co real estate holdings, jockey on who’s going to pay for this infrastructure as required by the EPA over the Rathdrum Aquifer before their real estate holdings can be developed. Will there be an equitable distribution of these costs?

  ‘Sewer Wars’ a Redux - Law extends time limit for Spokane River cleanup

  http://friendsofmarkfuhrman.org/blog/?p=139

• 

  liarsinnews on August 20 at 2:42 p.m.

  Its interesting to note that the Cowleses and Telect`s, Bill Williams, approached the Liberty Lake city council and both requested their property be annexed into the city. Unusual as most of the time, companies try to avoid being attached to cities, unless there is big money at stake. Seems to me, somebody had some insight or inside information why they both were so eager to have their property`s located within the city limits. TIF??? Or maybe rapid transit, at a huge cost to the city of Spokane??? Maybe other money incentives??? The shadow knows.

• 

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