Sandpoint Hit With Epa Fine Failure To Monitor Wastewater Results In $27,500 Penalty

The Environmental Protection Agency has slapped the city with a $27,500 fine for failure to monitor and enforce industrial wastewater discharges to its sewer plant.

The penalty was for a long list of violations of the Clean Water Act. City officials, however, said the violations posed no danger to the public and pollutants were not discharged into the Pend Oreille River.

“Each individual incident was a minor incident, but there were lots of incidents,” said Public Works Director Kody Van Dyk. “The bottom line is, we weren’t as vigilant as the EPA wants us to be.”

The city is supposed to monitor businesses that discharge industrial waste into the sewer system. Some of the wastewater must be pretreated before it is sent through to the sewage plant.

Litehouse salad dressing company exceeded the limits for putting fat and oils into the sewer. The city was supposed to monitor the company to make sure it was complying with EPA standards, but failed to do it. A sample of wastewater also was not taken at The Pend Oreille Cheese Factory, another EPA violation.

Van Dyk said the sample at the Cheese Factory wasn’t done because the factory was not making cheese during the sampling period. EPA regulators said the sample needed to be taken anyway.

“Industrial pretreatment programs are important first lines of defense in protecting our waters,” said EPA spokesman Leroy Loiselle. “Responsible operation … means holding industrial discharges to strict standards and ensuring they meet their permit requirements. In this case, it didn’t happen.”

Van Dyk shouldered the blame for not holding local companies to EPA requirements. Sampling was spotty, companies weren’t fined when violations were found and violators’ names were not printed in the newspaper as required, he said.

“It’s partly my fault but I don’t think you will see violations in the future,” Van Dyk said. The city has passed previous EPA reviews and will try to negotiate a reduced fine.

“Our understanding is these dollar amounts are not carved in stone,” Mayor David Sawyer said. The EPA gave the city no warning about the fine. Typically, water quality officials request violations be corrected before levying a fine.

The EPA called Van Dyk last week, only to tell him the letter fining the city for water quality violations was on its way. That’s the first time Van Dyk had talked with EPA officials in two years, he said.

“The perception from the outside can seem to be overkill by the EPA, but it’s a strong message to us saying the regulations we have in place need to be enforced,” Sawyer said.

Making companies abide by the standards could be costly. Litehouse likely will have to purchase new equipment to pretreat its wastewater to comply with EPA standards.

“I don’t think some businesses are going to be very happy, but that is the way it’s going to have to be,” Van Dyk said.

Pretreating wastewater helps ensure the city’s wastewater plant functions properly and that helpful bacteria is not killed by industrial discharges, EPA officials said.

Untreated water can tax the city’s system and allow pollutants to pass through. The city’s wastewater is discharged into the Pend Oreille River.

City officials have 30 days to respond to the EPA complaint or request a hearing on the penalty assessed.

, DataTimes