DES MOINES – Nora Springs has settled with the state of Iowa over shortfalls at its wastewater treatment plant and must pay thousands of dollars in penalties.
An administrative consent order has been entered into between the City of Nora Springs and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources for violations related to the operation of its wastewater treatment facility (WWTF). This Order requires the payment of a penalty and establishes a schedule for necessary upgrades to the City’s WWTF.
The City of Nora Springs neither admits nor denies the statement of facts or conclusions of law contained in the order and enters into the order for settlement purposes only.
Between October 2010, and February 2016, the City of Nora Springs violated effluent limits contained in its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit, which expired in 2015 but was extended temporarily.
The City of Nora Springs has agreed to schedule necessary upgrades to city’s wastewater treatment facility and payment of a $5,500 penalty.
By the execution of this Order, the Department orders and the City agrees to do the following:
1. Submit a facility plan for WWTF improvements to the Department for its approval by March 1, 2017;
2. Submit final plans and specifications for WWTF improvements to the Department for its approval by June 1, 2018; and
3. Complete construction of the WWTF improvements by October 1, 2020; and
4. Pay a penalty of $5,500.00 within 30 days of the Director of the Department signing this Order.
The state says the City of Nora Springs “saved a considerable amount of money through delaying the cost of upgrading its WWTE.”
One of the factors to be considered in determining the gravity of a violation is the amount of penalty authorized by the Iowa Code for that type of violation. The City violated the terms of its NPDES permit subsequent to notification from the Department. Effluent limits are the core of an NPDES permit and the backbone of the Iowa’s wastewater regulatory program.
The City self-reported numerous NPDES permit limit violations during the last five years and the Department has notified the City on multiple occasions of the violations. Despite the City’s knowledge of the violations they persisted.
This Order is entered into knowingly by and with the consent of the City. For that reason, it waives its right to appeal this order or any part thereof.
The City’s WWTF serves approximately 1400 people. The WWTF includes aerated grit removal, mechanical screening, primary clarifier, first stage trickling filter, intermediate clarifier, second stage trickling filter, final clarifier, gas chlorine disinfection, dechlorination with sulfur dioxide, storm flow retention basin and an aerated sludge holding tank.
$5,000 would be a start on our horrible streets (the fine) but guess we don”t need any streets fixed till the street opens up & eats my or your whole car or truck.
In the long term…….NS will not be financially able to make the upgrades to their water treatment system by 2020. Its a ghost town now with a rapidly decreasing tax base. Literally, they are in deep $hit.
Do you think if they would of left the Pole Barn in town they could’ve generated enough money to build a new one in 6 months?
No I don’t. But the question remains, how does NS propose to grow its tax base in order to finance state mandated water treatment requirements. Your thoughts?
I myself didn’t think that the Pole Barn was a good fit for Nora Springs. But the question is what is a good fit for Nora Springs or any community? If I remember right, a couple of years ago ADM wanted to come to Nora Springs and build a facility south of town and some people didn’t think that was a good fit for them either. I think that would’ve been a pretty good tax base. Those two businesses that were chased out of town are on two different sides of the world and neither one was good enough to be welcomed to town. If you want to build a tax base other than on the backs of the homeowner, who the majority of them probably work outside of town, you have to be more open to different types of employers. It can not be all one sided, if you want to build your tax base you have to compromise. What are you willing to give to get something back?
I don’t know all that is available out there but I do know that there are low interest loans and Federal/State grants out there that would help a little. It would be a great question for the Administrator and council. I believe one of the members works for the Dept of Public Health and might know a lot more avenues to take. The thing of it is that this shouldn’t of been a surprise to any of them. I believe that Nora Springs hires an outside company, People Services, to monitor, keep records, and keep the town informed about these things. These rules and regulations aren’t something that popped up overnight. I don’t know, has the town been aware of these issues but just not listening or planning financially for this day?
Im with you Ralph, right on and insightful. If you live in NS, run for public office. You would be a sound and reasonable voice on the city council. Thanks for your thoughts
Mostly hog farm runoff,
So who was the person who authorized the submitting of the NUMEROUS NPDES PERMIT VIOLATIONS and do they still have their job?
Are you talking about falsifying required state records? That will get you a bigger fine.
This is a big problem for small towns.
But hey, lets focus on The Pole Barn because that’s a MUCH larger problem…dumba$$es.