The City of Jefferson recently agreed to a consent order with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) due to an oversight issue.

The Jefferson City Council approved the consent order, following some biosolid reporting violations at the wastewater treatment plant from 2016-18 and a 2018 biosolid sludge application that was in excess of the allowable concentrations. The issues were in violation of the EPA’s Clean Water Act. City Administrator Mike Palmer admits that mistakes were made and explains the reasoning behind the incidents. 

“When these mistakes happened it was during a time when there was some transition at the City (changing of the wastewater superintendent position). The City was also upgraded to a facility that handles over 1-million gallons of sewage per day. The rules, when we go over that 1-million mark, some of the reporting rules change, which we were not aware of. But we are now.”

According to the consent order, the City failed to submit an annual biosolid report by no later than February 19th. The City also didn’t monitor pollutants when applying bulk sewage sludge to its permitted areas. Finally, the City failed to comply with arsenic ceiling concentration limits of 75-milligrams/kilogram as permitted by the EPA. 

Palmer says the penalty that the Council approved was for $13,900, which he points out could have been higher if both the City and the EPA didn’t work together to come to a solution.