By Sharon Michael, The Chronicle, 08/21/98
| ECOLOGY UPSET:. State raises possibility of daily fines - $500 to $10,000 - until certified operator put on the job at city's sewer plant |
"The wastewater
plant at Pe Ell
is undersized and very
old. To run it adequately
takes a good operator.
The plant can't run itself."
Kathie Emmett, Ecology enforcement officer |
PE ELL -Once again, Pe Ell is in hot water with the state Department of Ecology over operation of the town's sewer plant.
Last week, Mayor John Penberth fired the town's only certified wastewater operator and placed plant operations in the hands of a water department employee who is not legally qualified to run the sewer facility.
Penberth said wastewater operator Richard Smith, still in his six-month probationary period, was "not working up to expectation, so he was let go."
"It's a personnel issue - I can't really go into it," the mayor added.
Smith was fired at the end of the workday on Aug. 12.
Ecology enforcement officer Kathie Emmett says Penberth's precipitous action was "irresponsible in terms of the environment."
"He should have had a replacement before he decided to dismiss the operator he had - (Smith) was quite good," Emmett added.
State law requires the plant be operated by a state-certified technician. Emmett is recommending a fine for every day the plant operates illegally.
"The wastewater treatment plant at Pe Ell is undersized and very old," Emmett pointed out. "To run it adequately takes a good operator. The plant can't run itself."
Since Aug. 12, Bregg Phelps - the town's certified water plant operator -has also been responsible for operating Pe Ell's sewer plant.
Penberth contends that Phelps has run the sewer plant many times during the past seven years when the certified operator took time off.
"The plant is in the same hands as if the guy was on vacation," Penberth argued.
"It wasn't like (Phelps) was ever in charge of the plant," Emmett countered.
THE QUALIFIED technician always checked in when he was away to answer Phelps' questions, she contends.
"Washington state law allows certified operators to oversee an operator-in-training, which is what (Phelps) was," Emmett said.
Penberth said Phelps was sent to wastewater operator training, but he failed a portion of the certification exam, "unbeknownst to me. I thought Phelps was my backup."
Phelps took the examination in June. Emmett said Phelps' test results would have been mailed to city officials.
The mayor has already exhausted a list of qualified operators established in February without finding a replacement for Smith. Penberth said he is now advertising and seeking candidates through the state job service.
"She says that I'm out of compliance, and I'm doing everything humanly possible to get back into compliance," Penberth stated. "We may be penalized - I don't know."
EMMETT SAID the town could be fined from $500 to $10,000 per day per violation.
"The mayor does need to get a certified operator," she stated emphatically.
Emmett said Pe Ell has a history of inadequate sewer plant staffing, including a one-week period when the certified operator was suspended. Ecology contacted Derek Zock at home, and when he assured the agency he was in daily communication with the plant, no fines were levied.
Ecology had just given the town $460,000 to replace its pump stations, and Emmett said the agency was trying to work with Pe Ell officials.
But Emmett has little sympathy for the town's current situation.
"This is a willful dismissal of a qualified operator," she stated. "As far as Ecology was concerned, (Smith) was doing a good job."
Town officials have to understand that it is their responsibility to have a qualified operator in charge of the plant, Emmett emphasized.
BUT THE PLANT may continue to operate, she added, for "as long as they can pay the fines."
Town officials could appeal a fine to the state Pollution Control Board, Emmett said. If the board upholds Ecology, the town's only recourse would be to sue the agency.
IN MAY, ECOLOGY issued a moratorium against any further hookups in Pe Ell until the town can demonstrate its system has the capacity to handle additional wastewater volumes.
The May moratorium replaced a 1996 order that allowed one sewer system hookup for every 100 feet of replaced sewer line.
The town had not replaced any sewer line since the 1996 order, but it had made some pump station repairs and side sewer replacements and submitted overdue reports.
In June, Pe Ell was awarded nearly three-quarters of a million dollars in state loans and grants for sewer and water system repairs.
The town has been under a boilwater order from the state Health Department since mid-April that could continue through February 1999.
That decree came two years after the town council signed an agreement to take measures to bring its water plant into compliance with water quality standards. Pe Ell had not met all of the 1996 agreement terms when the boil-water order was issued.
"WATER IS OUR No. I emergency, sewer's No. 2," Penberth said when the sewer hookup moratorium was issued less than a month later.
"We are actively working with our engineer to start four of the identified projects with four contractors to get off our boil-water order," the mayor said Wednesday.
The work will include $50,000 in plant repairs and $200,000 to replace water lines. The projects will be done "as soon as we can get them done," Penberth said.
Sharon Michael can be reached by entail at smichael@chrc)nlinecom or by calling 807-8237.
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