Albuquerque Journal
By Steve Shoup
December 20, 2000
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will decide next month whether to fine Rio Rancho for a sewage spill into the Rio Grande in July.
"We expect a decision on what enforcement is appropriate in early January," David Bary, spokesman for the regional EPA office in Dallas, said Tuesday. "The discharge, release or spill was outside the conditions of the permit and any violation of a permit is an enforceable action under the (federal) Clean Water Act."
The EPA in August issued the city a disciplinary order that says the city violated its discharge permit July 13 when it allowed waste water to flow from one of its treatment plants into the river.
The EPA has said the city released 1 million gallons. City officials have disputed the EPA's figure, saying the spill from Waste Water Treatment Plant No. 2 at 100 Industrial Loop was about 64,000 gallons of concentrated waste.
The city could face up to a $125,000 fine, Bary said, but the case still is under review by the EPA's Enforcement Division.
City officials met with EPA officials in Dallas on Oct. 6 about the spill, Bary said, in a "very cordial" meeting. The EPA sought and got information from the city on the incident, and the case has been under review since.
Rio Rancho Utilities Department director Larry Webb is hopeful the EPA will look at the city's efforts to correct the problems and consider those in deciding whether to take action.
"Department staff believes that the EPA is awaiting more monthly reports from (Waste Water Treatment Plant No. 2) to insure that it is on a consistent course of good treatment and that all items have been repaired before they will make their decision on how to deal with past problems," Webb wrote in a monthly report to the city's Utilities Commission.
"Why take money from us when we've fixed the problem?" Webb said of the EPA review after Tuesday's meeting.
Webb said he also hopes the EPA will look at the city's efforts to modify and expand Plant No. 2, which should be done by June.
Webb also said in the report to the commission that Waste Water Treatment Plant No. 3 at 1605 Riverside Drive violated its waste-water permit in October by exceeding fecal coliform bacteria levels. Webb didn't specify how big the violation was.
"The problem appears to be an operations/equipment problem that has since been resolved," Webb's report said. "The plant is now in compliance with its discharge requirements."
Webb said after the meeting that the EPA was not looking at enforcement action for the October violation.
Meanwhile, the EPA still is considering renewing Rio Rancho's permits to release treated waste water into the river.
Bary said EPA staff was reviewing the city's permit renewals and is awaiting a decision by EPA officials on whether to make the standard more strict on how much arsenic can be in waste water.
Arsenic occurs naturally in water in the West, but the EPA is trying to cut how much gets into the Rio Grande.
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