IA DNR Notice Violation - Coates & Peru Rd. Sewage
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MEMORANDUM
April 28, 2005
TO:
The Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
FROM:
Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager
SUBJECT: Iowa DNR Notice of Violation
Public Works Director Don Vogt acknowledges a violation of the notification requirement
on a sewer overflow by four hours.
This has not happened in the past and will not happen in the future.
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Michael C. Van Milligen ~
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Attachment
cc: Barry Lindahl, Corporation Counsel
Cindy Steinhauser, Assistant City Manager
Don Vogt, Public Works Director
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MEMORANDUM
April 26, 2005
TO: Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager
FROM: Don Vag!, Public Works Director ~
SUBJECT: Iowa DNR Notice of Violation
INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this memorandum is to provide information regarding the attached Iowa
DNR Notice of Violation.
DISCUSSION
Accompanying this memorandum is a copy of the April 15th Notice of Violation from
IDNR, a copy of the April 8th letter sent by Street and Sewer Maintenance Supervisor
John Klostermann to IDNR regarding the two cited sewer overflows, and a subsequent
memo to me from John regarding the oversight.
I would note for your and Council's consideration, that in John's fifteen years as our
Street Maintenance Supervisor and eleven years of additional responsibility as the
City's sewer maintenance and floodwall operations supervisor, this is the only time we
have been cited by IDNR for a rules infraction. Given the large number of occurrences
over the years of intentional sanitary sewer bypass pumping and unintentional sanitary
sewer overflows we have religiously reported to IDNR, and our being only four hours
late with our notification in this cited case, I feel that our overall performance has been
satisfactory to IDNR. I believe the IDNR personnel in the regional field office in
Manchester would agree with my assessment.
ACTION STEP
This is for your information for our May 2nd meeting.
Attachments
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MEMORANDUM
April 25, 2005
TO: Don Vogt, Public Works Director
FROM: John Klostermann, StreeUSewer Maintenance supervisorqt-
SUBJECT: Iowa DNR Notice Violation
The purpose of this memorandum is to respond to the violation notice we
received from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources dated April 15, 2005.
On Monday April 4, 2005 at approximately 4:30 p.m. we were notified of two
sanitary sewer overflows, one on Coates Street and the second along Peru Rd.
Due to the number of overflows, the need to assess the problems, coordinate
crews and contact other department for additional assistance, the twelve hour
IDNR notification was not met. My notification to IDNR was not made until 8:30
a.m. on April 5th.
To my knowledge this is the first time that I have failed to meet the notification
requirements required for sanitary sewer overflows. After receiving this violation
notice, I contacted Ms. Miller and assured her that I will make every effort to meet
the notification requirements on future events.
If you need any additional information, please contact me.
Operations and Maintenance Department
925 Kerper Boulevard
Dubuque, Iowa 52001-2338
(563) 589-4250 office
(563) 589-4252 fax
(563) 589-4193 TOD
ops&maint@cityofdubuque.org
THE CITY OF (:~::'\
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April 8, 2005
Ms. Sue Miller
Iowa Department of Natural Resources
909 West Main, Suite 4
Manchester, Iowa 52057
Dear Ms. Miller:
The purpose of this letter is to inform you of the action taken on the two sanitary
sewer overflows which we had on Monday April 4, 2005.
We received notification from the police dispatch center of a possible sanitary sewer
overflow in the woods near 2325 Coates Street around 4:30 p.m. The crew
dispatched to the site found a manhole overflowing due to a build up of large rocks in
the manhole. The rocks were most likely place in the manhole by vandals. The rocks
were removed from the manhole and flow redirected to the pipe. Today the line will
be jetted and cleaned to remove any rock that may be located in the pipe and the
overflow area will be cleaned and posted. The existing manhole ring and lids will
also be replaced with bolt down lids to help prevent future vandalism.
A second notification was received from the police dispatch center around 5:00 p.m.
for a manhole that was overflowing near 742 Peru Rd. A second crew was
dispatched and found a manhole overflowing in the woods. The crew attempted to jet
the line to open the blockage but the jet hose became stuck in the pipe. A bypass
pump was set up redirect the flow back into the sanitary sewer system at the
downstream manhole. Once the flow was redirected to the down stream manhole it
was found that the manhole was plugged with large rocks due to vandals. Due to the
late hour, we ended our efforts to open the line and continued with the bypass
pumping through out the night. On Tuesday we removed rock from the pipe and
manhole and restored flow back through the pipe. The ring and lids will also be
replaced with bolt down manhole covers to help prevent a reoccurrence of this
incident.
If you need any additional information, please contact me.
reetlSewer Maintenance Supervisor
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Service
People
Integrity
Responsibility
Innovation
Teamwork
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STATE OF IOVVA
THOMAS J. VILSACK, GOVERNOR
SALLYJ. PEDERSON, LT. GOVERNOR
DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES
JEFFREY R. VONK, DIRECTOR
CERTIFIED MAIL
April 15, 2005
City of Dubuque
City Hall
50 West 13th St.
Dubuque, IA 52001
ATTENTION: Honorable Mayor and City Council
RE: NOTICE OF VIOLATION 567-63.6(2) Report of bypass.
4/4/05 bypasses near 2325 Coates and 742 Peru Road, Dubuque
It has been determined that the City of Dubuque failed to report two bypasses that occurred on April 4,
2005 within the required 12 hour time period. Failure to report this event to this department is a violation
of 567 lAC 63.6(2):
63.6(2) In the event that bypassing of sewage or waste occurs as a result of mechanical failure or
acts beyond the control of the owner (other than rain or other precipitation), said owner shall notify
the department by telephone of the bypassing within 12 hours of the time of the discovery of the
bypassing. The owner shall comply with the instructions of the department calculated to minimize
the effect of the bypassing on the receiving water of the state.
This office has received a written letter submitted by John Klostermann dated April 8, 2005. This report
states that city crews were able to reroute the wastewater from the overflowing manhole near 742 Peru
Road to stop discharge to the surface. Removing rocks from the overflowing manhole stopped the
discharge near 2325 Coates. Mr, Klostermann attributed both incidences to vandalism.
This notice does not preclude the DNR from pursuing additional enforcement action regarding these or
any other violations,
We have enclosed a copy of this department's by-pass reporting guidance document for your further
reference.
If you have any questions, please contact this office.
Sincerely,
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ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES DIVISION
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Susan J, Miller
Environmental Specialist
c: DNR - Wastewater Operating Permits Section
John Klostermann, City of Dubuque, Operations & Maintenance, 925 Kerper Blvd., Dubuque, IA 52001
Jonathon Brown, 795 Julien Dubuque Dr., Dubuque, IA 52003
File - WW/Dubuque
Efile - 31 WW Dubuque 040405 nltr sjm
Field Office 1,909 West Main Suite 4, Manchester, IA 52057
563/927-2640 FAX 563/927-2075
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Guidelines for Bypass Event Reporting
Iowa DNR Environmental Services
Field Office 1 - Manchester, Iowa
Listed below are the rules in the Iowa Administrative Code that apply to bypass
reporting:
567-63.6(4558) Report of bypass.
63.6(1) Except for bypasses that occur as a result of mechanical failure or acts beyond
the control of the owner, owners of waste disposal systems shall obtain written
permission from the department prior to any bypassing of any sewage or wastes from
the waste disposal system.
63.6(2) In the event that bypassing of sewage or waste occurs as a result of mechanical
failure or acts beyond the control of the owner (other than rain or other precipitation),
said owner shall notify the department by telephone of the bypassing within 12 hours of
the time of the discovery of the bypassing. The owner shall comply with the instructions
of the department calculated to minimize the effect of the bypassing on the receiving
water of the state.
63.6(3) Bypasses other than those described in this rule shall be reported in the records
of operation.
Public Notification for Bvpass Events
Notification to the affected public shall be made for any bypass, except for
precipitation related events.
The Field Office shall make the necessary notifications if a drinking water supply
(Class C), primary contact recreation (Class A), high quality water (Class HQ),
public use areas, or other sensitive areas are downstream of the bypass. The
bypasser is required to make other notifications within 4 hours after being notified
by the Department. If the bypasser refuses to make necessary notifications, this
department will make the appropriate notifications. Notification information
should include the following:
. When the bypass occurred or was discovered
. Location of the bypass
. Cause of the bypass
. Estimation of quantity bypassed
. Duration or expected duration of the bypass event
. Water body affected
. Anticipated impact of the bypass (water quality and/or human exposure
risks)
i
At a minimum, the groups listed below must be contacted:
1 . Media
. Daily Newspaper if available
.Area Radio and/or Television Station
2. Local Board of Health
3. Area DNR Conservation Officer
4. Local County Naturalist or Conservation Board
5. Downstream Livestock Water Users
It is strongly recommended that precipitation related bypass events also be
reported to this department within the same 12 hour period, especially when
there is a high human exposure risk from the bypass. For precipitation bypass
events, this department will make all notifications that are deemed necessary by
the department.
A copy of the information provided to the news media must be attached to
monthly operation reports (MORs) that are submitted to this field office. In
addition, the times when the notifications to the affected public where made
should also be included on the MORs.
Monitorinq
Water samples of the actual wastewater that was bypassed or if this is not
feasible, raw waste entering the plant must be collected and analyzed for
ammonia, CBOD5, and fecal bacteria.
Disinfection
The Department may require temporary disinfection by chlorination depending on
volume/duration of bypassing, stream classification and use and time of year in
which the public may be using the stream (i.e. class A waters used for canoeing,
tubing, fishing).
Cleanup
The Department may require the cleanup of debris and waste materials
deposited in the area impacted by the bypass. In conjunction with the cleanup,
the department may require lime application to the ground surface or disinfection
of the area with a chlorine solution (recommend a minimum chlorine
concentration of 100 mg/I).
Phone Contacts
The bypass should be reported to a department staff person, a voice mail
message is not acceptable. You can contact the Manchester Field Office by
telephone at (563) 927-2640. After normal office hours contact the 24-hour
emergency response number (515) 281-8694. Field Office staff will assist in
providing additional phone numbers, including Conservation Officers and County
Conservation Boards, upon request.
. Every reasonable effort must be made to prevent any raw waste from
discharging to a water of the state, for any type of bypass.