BLAIR, NEBRASKA (2024 November 8, Friday)
Don Harrold, Writer / Editor
blairtoday@mail.com – Facebook
Blair residents can continue normal water usage following a wastewater equipment failure in Sioux City that resulted in a discharge into the Missouri River, local officials confirmed with us today.
The incident, initially reported as a 2 million gallon discharge, has been significantly revised. “We originally reported to the IDNR (Iowa Department of Natural Resources) 1-2 MG as we were basing it on general observations at the moment. After we further investigated flow readings the estimate changed to approximately 418,000 gallons,” Vicki Baker, Sioux City’s Wastewater Treatment Plant Manager told us today.
The discharge occurred when equipment failed at a lift station. “A PLC module faulted out. This module told the pumps to kick on, so without them kicking on wastewater filled the wet well and backed up in the pipes, ultimately discharging some to the Bacon Creek Channel,” Baker explained.
Baker revealed that a backup system had failed as well. “We had a call out system in place, that staff believed to be working, that should have alerted us of the high wet well level so we could dispatch personnel to check on it and correct it before it backed up. Unfortunately, it was determined this system was disabled recently.”
The spill consisted of “a combination of industrial, commercial, and domestic raw, untreated wastewater. This is representative of what we normally treat every day,” Baker said.
Several factors limited the spill’s impact. “The Bacon Creek Channel is a storm water diversion channel that is dry most of the time. When this was originally constructed decades ago, they installed sanitary sewer manholes at the base of the channel, so some flow ended up going back into these manholes. Also, due to the flood in June there is still flood debris (dirt, branches, etc.) in the channel. Some of this water would have been trapped with this debris,” Baker explained.
The channel’s structure presents additional challenges, Baker noted. “This channel has a 60% slope on it and is very deep so getting heavy equipment and staff in it, requires a very carefully planned out solution with multiple parties involved.” She added that “Prior to the event, another City department has been working with an engineering firm to fix the sanitary sewer issue in the channel. We anticipate this project kicking off in 2025.”
Blair officials were quickly notified. CJ Heaton, Blair Public Works Director told us, “Scott Wilson with the Iowa DNR did call Jeff at the Water Treatment Plant to advise him on the situation. The Iowa DNR was confident that the spill was limited to Bacon Creek, and no plume was noticed in the Missouri River.”
Blair’s water treatment system is well-equipped to handle such incidents. “Unfortunately there are similar types of organics found naturally in the water from field runoff and animals in the wild, and our facility treats this all the time,” Heaton said. “Our operators are watching for any increases in turbidity and will adjust the coagulants as needed to ensure that any solids are pulled from the water, this is a normal operating procedure that is going on all the time at the plant.”
With water taking “two to three days” to travel from Sioux City to Blair’s intake points, no special measures are required. There will be “no changes to our testing protocols,” Heaton confirmed, as the plant continues to “follow all the requirements set by the State of Nebraska.”
Should any concerns arise, Blair has established notification procedures. “If we need to notify residents to any potential water issues, we will follow the state guidelines, likely with hand delivered notices along with utilizing local media. We are also in the process of hiring a new communications position to help increase our social media/online presence, but state law would still require hand delivered notices and utilization of local media,” Heaton explained.
The incident highlights the existing communication network between river communities. Heaton explained that “Our operators also do communicate with other communities along the river to discuss changes in the river levels, turbidity, or a wide range of potential issues.” He added that if Blair were to experience similar issues, they “are required to notify the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy (NDEE).”
Sioux City has already implemented preventive measures. “To mitigate this, we installed a cellular system yesterday to alert staff of this issue in the future. Also, as a side project to our WWTP improvements project, which is currently at 30% design, we are planning to make upgrades to this lift station to include the computer systems,” Baker said.
For now, Blair residents need take no special precautions. “In the event that there is ever a concern with the quality of water the City of Blair will notify residents accordingly,” Heaton said.
The City of Blair maintains detailed records of all water testing. “All test result information is kept at the WTP and reports submitted to NDEE per state law,” Heaton confirmed.
