A mechanical failure at a pump station in Vergennes dumped 12,700 gallons of untreated sewage into nearby streams Sunday, city officials said. The small Addison County city could face pollution fines, a state official said.
After a heater was tripped off over the weekend, a copper pipe froze and burst, spraying water on electrical equipment that controls the sewage pumps feeding a wastewater treatment plant.
Untreated sewage, which included human feces, was released into Potash Brook and Otter Creek between noon and 6 p.m. on Monday. The Otter Creek flows northwest into Lake Champlain.
The state was notified Monday, according a report of the incident available online. During the overflow, plant workers operated the pump manually to push the sewage to the Vergennes Wastewater Treatment Facility. The pumps are now operating, but further maintenance is required, a city official said.
City Manager Mel Hawley said the sewage that entered the stream included anything that is typically washed down the drain or flushed down a toilet, unless the homeowner has a septic tank. It is unlikely there was any stormwater released because the ground was frozen at the time, he said.
Hawley said that while city officials received a phone call shortly after the event occurred, more can be done to prepare for overflows. He said the city has been discussing whether to install heat monitors to know if there is a risk of a pipe burst sooner.
According to David Mears, commissioner for the Department of Environmental Conservation, the state’s environmental enforcement office, said under no circumstance is it legal to discharge untreated sewage into waterways.
He said he is not familiar with the incident. But when considering fines, he said the state considers compliance history and natural weather events.
“There is no question that they will have to fix the problem immediately. It is unacceptable to have untreated sewage flowing through any part of Vermont,” Mears said.
He did not know if residents were notified of the backup. During the recreational season, he said it is an immediate priority for the department to notify health officials.
“Our practice is to make sure that the public knows and that local officials know as soon as possible. It is primarily the municipal officials that run the sewage treatment plants … who are responsible for making sure that all of the pieces of information get out,” Mears said.
Lake Champlain International, a water quality advocacy and research organization, posted a brief notice of the event on its Facebook page, coincidentally during a news conference at the Statehouse on water quality goals.
James Ehlers, executive director of Lake Champlain International, said he checks the agency’s wastewater incident page daily. However, he said on average, incidents are reported two days after they occur.
“Is this an acceptable way to protect the public interests and public health?” he asked. “The information is about as useful as looking in a rear view mirror in a car wreck.”
The Vergennes plant also released more than 450,000 gallons of sewage for nearly two days beginning on Dec. 24. The plant is permitted to release stormwater during heavy rain events under its state permit.
Ehlers says this is unacceptable. He said the rain event sent the equivalent of 65 milk trucks of stormwater into the waterways.
“Why have the systems at all when you are not going to treat the water during a significant rain event,” he said. “Pollution is pollution no matter when it occurs. If you don’t spend the money to prevent the pollution, then it cost you money when beaches have to be closed … or when drinking water has to be treated.”
After raw sewage is treated at wastewater treatment plants, the leftover dry material, known as sludge, is either sent to the state’s landfill in Coventry or spread as fertilizer. The same is true for septic waste.
Mears said he has real questions about whether it is good public policy to allow treated sewage and septic waste to be spread on fields. He said when applied properly, it is absorbed by the soil. But he said there have been cases where the waste was misapplied. Another issue, he said, is the accumulation of certain materials found in human waste, such as pharmaceuticals.
Ehlers said the science on spreading the waste on fields is dated. He said putting it in a landfill is also unsustainable because all landfills eventually leak.
An alternative, he said, it to capture the waste and turn it into energy using a digester. He calls the concept “capture and conversion.” He said he is working with Green Mountain Power, the state’s largest electric utility, to produce power from the waste.
“We understand that this would require a massive change in the status quo about how our culture deals with both animal waste and human waste,” he said. “We are under the opinion that there is no option. We have to respond as nature would: nothing in nature goes to waste.”
