Lewis waste water released in Puget Sound

[unhappycamper]

Lewis waste water released in Puget Sound
Staff report
Posted : Tuesday Jun 3, 2008 6:14:18 EDT

Up to 180,000 gallons of partially treated waste water was released into the Puget Sound between 11 p.m. Sunday and 2 a.m. Monday because of an electrical problem at the Fort Lewis, Wash., waste water treatment plant, officials announced Monday in a press release.

Officials emphasized that no completely untreated water was released during the incident. All the water that escaped had received at least primary treatment, meaning it had been stripped of solid wastes. In addition, about 45 minutes after the problem was detected, workers restored the secondary treatment process, which involves more sophisticated filtration. Chlorination, the last step in water treatment at the facility, was restored about 2 a.m.

Officials estimate that the event released up to 60,000 gallons of water that had only received the primary treatment and up to 120,000 gallons of water that had been fully treated but had not been chlorinated. The problem occurred after one of the treatment plant’s pumps short-circuited, damaging circuit breakers at the plant, which shut down the secondary treatment process. An on-duty plant employee detected the problem and began to take corrective action immediately. Fort Lewis officials notified the Environmental Protection Agency and the Washington State Department of Health about 3:30 a.m. Monday.

Officials said they will investigate the incident and review all procedures to ensure the incident doesn’t happen again.


Article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/06/army_lewis_wastewater_060208/