Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
The town of Garfield is deemed to be on an upward path with its wastewater treatment plant by the Washington Department of Ecology (DOE) after its latest inspection of the facility Jan. 23.
Diana Washington, Senior Permit Manager for DOE, also met with Mayor Jarrod Pfaff, city council representatives Cande Hasenroel and David Ulrich, and Reuel Klempel, the town's Level II operator, hired by previous mayor Ray McCown.
“All in all, Garfield is on a great path,” said Brook Beeler, spokesperson for DOE. “They have a certified operator, they're starting to do the work it takes to operate and maintain a treatment plant.”
The town has not had any violations since last July.
As part of Washington's conclusions, she recommended a series of items, including reviewing the operations and maintenance manual to update emergency contact information, also to add to the manual process changes done to piping and valves for flows; and to develop standard operating procedures for operational conditions, for example, how to put the backup secondary clarifier on line and operational bypass including chlorination procedures for bypassed wastewater.
Other recommendations were to continue to find opportunities to cut out infiltration and inflow (I&I) from the wastewater collection system, to make a plan and timeline to finish maintenance on the wetland and to improve access to effluent discharge pipe.
“The ongoing design flow violations result primarily from infiltration and inflow,” Washington wrote to Mayor Pfaff in a Feb. 1 letter. “It is important that the community continue to identify and eliminate sources of I&I which will improve the overall performance and eliminate design violations.”
I&I refers to compromised underground pipes which allow groundwater to seep in and make its way to the wastewater treatment plant. In turn, the plant processes higher volumes than it needs to.
Garfield's next inspection will be in June.
The latest status report follows a DOE discharge violation issued to the town in 2014. Garfield then entered into an agreement under order by the DOE with prescriptive criteria – related to operations and maintenance – to bring the plant into compliance. Another violation followed three months later.
The violations were in the realm of effluent limits – the levels of discharge tolerable without harming aquatic life.
In 2016, the town was given a 90-day mandate to get the treatment back in line with their state permit. They have since hired Klempel, after which the DOE has been more approving.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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