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State warns Hyrum over failure to clean milky water from West Point Dairy By
Lara Gale
HYRUM ‹ The state has a sharp eye on Hyrum's Wastewater Treatment Plant, which has been pumping out dirty water as a result of a flood of milk byproducts flowing into the sewers from West Point Dairy, and Thursday warned the City Council that action will be taken if the problem isn't cleaned up soon. The dairy pumps out 40,000 gallons of waste a day, according to Kevin Maughan, city wastewater superintendent, and while that volume is fairly average for an industry, it is too much for the treatment plant's filters to handle. Water coming out of the facility is reaching the point of a potential health hazard. The problem began when the dairy started operations early March. "We've started getting rafts of white milk or butter floating around, which didn't ever happen before," Maughan told the council. "And you can see the water coming out milky white. That's not the way it used to look, and that's a problem." A slide presentation showed a one- to one-and-a-half-inch layer of milk byproducts floating on water entering the plant. In March the plant was dealing with 230 percent of its capacity to filter waste. "The comparison I make is its like hooking a garden hose to a fire hydrant," said Mark Schmitz, an environmental scientist for the Utah Division of Water Quality. Consequently, filters are being damaged and unclean water is coming out. The plant was able to perform within the limits of state water quality guidelines in March, but will not be able to sustain that, Schmitz said. The state division warned the council if guidelines aren't met three months in a row, now it knows about the problem, it would be considered willful neglect and result in fines of up to $25,000 a day until corrections are made. However, Paul Krouth, outreach coordinator with the state division, told the council the dairy is ultimately responsible for fixing the problem. "Not to point the finger, but if you point the finger, this is where the blame lies," he said. Maughan contacted the division for help as soon as he saw the potential for a problem. "This is probably one of the best proactive efforts I've ever seen," Schmitz said. Though no specific solution has been found, the dairy manager is aware of the problem and is working to minimize the volume of waste being pumped into the sewers, Maughan said. No action was taken, but the council said they will continue to work towards a solution. "We have to solve this problem now, not six months after they've been in operation," Mayor Gordon Olson said. "They simply have to fix the problem they've caused us, or we simply can't tolerate it."
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