The city of Athens improperly — but not technically illegally, as city leaders say — dumped a 55-gallon drum of expired hydrofluoric cyclic acid, used to fluoridate the city water, in the brine lagoon at the city’s water treatment plant in 2012.
Now, the city is paying for it.
The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency fined the city $14,400 for dumping into the lagoon, which is where the city disposes of water-softening salt, officials said, adding that it is used to dilute the solution before it is let into the Hocking River.
The city made the dump because there was “no protocol” for how it should get rid of the potentially-hazardous chemical, Councilman Steve Patterson said. He noted that the city shut off the lagoon’s valves leading to the river after realizing that the 55-gallon drum could pollute the river. He said even if some of that did make it into the river, it was diluted enough that it did not reach a harmful level.
Heather Lauer, spokeswoman for the EPA, said the agency wasn’t sure of the toxicity of the chemical.
“At the time, the operators down there didn’t know what the guidance was for getting rid of it, but since it was expired they knew it couldn’t be used as treatment in water supply,” Patterson said. “They thought that since it was expired they could pour it into the brine lagoon, but you can’t because of the pH levels.
“Nothing was ever discharged in high concentration into the Hocking River.”
Still to come are finalized agreements with city leaders about how the city should pay that fine, but there is some framework in motion.
The city disposed of the second expired 55-gallon drum of hydrofluoric cyclic acid it had on hand correctly, City Engineer and Director of Public Works an Andy Stone said, which he said he thinks that’s why the agency decided to make the original mistake a learning opportunity for the city by allowing them to host a hazardous waste pickup and by creating an inventory at all of the hazardous waste at city buildings at Stone’s suggestion.
Both processes, referred to by the EPA as supplemental environmental projects, will cost the city $7,200, Patterson said, and should occur in April.
“Every other year we have the household hazardous waste collection at the community center anyways,” Patterson said. “The second half was in lieu of paying the additional $7,200 that we could fund for a second environmental project, where we could have a company come in and go through all of our inventory, find out which chemicals are hazardous and come back to Athens and hold two training sessions for all individuals working at the water treatment plant, the wastewater treatment plant, the city lab, the two city garages and the engineering and public works building.”
The inventory will be a part of a process the city is taking to keep a closer eye on its chemical disposal methods and stay within EPA guidelines, Patterson said. Since the 2012 incident at the brine lagoon, the city has changed the way it disposes of expired chemicals.
Sean Beasley, manager at the water treatment plant, said the city now hires a vendor to dispose of the chemicals for it.
FAST FACTS
The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency fined Athens city $14,400 for dumping 55-gallon drum into the lagoon.
Athens made the dump because of a lack of protocol for disposal of hydrofluoric cyclic acid.
The potentially-hazardous chemical is used to fluoridate Athens’ water supply.
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