Colfax “out of compliance” with DNR phosphorus limits
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
COLFAX — It’s one of those kinds of mistakes that could happen to anyone.
And while Rand Bates, Colfax director of public works, readily admits he accidentally used the wrong numbers to calculate phosphorus discharge to the Red Cedar River from the village’s wastewater treatment lagoons, he also wonders why it took the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources three years to notice that the numbers seemed to indicate the village was out of compliance.
Bates informed the Colfax Village Board at the May 28 meeting that he had received a letter from the DNR about phosphorus compliance the previous week.
The phosphorus limit set for Colfax is 320 pounds per year, Bates said.
In 2021, Colfax discharged 326 pounds of phosphorus to the Red Cedar River, and in 2022, the village discharged 338 pounds. In 2023, the number of pounds of phosphorus had increased to 518 pounds, he said.
Even in 2021 and 2022 when the phosphorus discharge was slightly over the limit of 320 pounds set by the DNR, the phosphorus discharge was still above the limit, Bates noted.
Influent vs. effluent
The mistake on calculations for phosphorus discharge revolves around the amount of influent (gallons flowing into the wastewater treatment lagoons) and effluent (gallons flowing out of the wastewater treatment lagoons).
From 2014 until 2020, Bates said he had used the effluent gallons to calculate the phosphorus discharge.
For 2021, 2022 and 2023, Bates said he had inadvertently switched to using influent gallons to calculate the phosphorus discharge — and never noticed that he had used the wrong set of numbers.
Then again — DNR personnel did not notice, either.
After the reports were submitted for Colfax, presumably someone at the DNR was supposed to be keeping track of whether Colfax is in compliance with the Wastewater Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (WPDES) permit issued to the village.
No one from the DNR said anything about the phosphorus discharge for three years, Bates said.
The calculations using influent and effluent numbers of gallons results in “a whole lot different” outcome, he said.
The influent gallons going into the wastewater treatment plant might be expected to be higher in phosphorus content than the effluent gallons.
Colfax treats the wastewater with alum, which binds with phosphorus so that it settles out to the bottom of the lagoons before the effluent gallons are discharged to the Red Cedar River.
Groundwater in this area of Wisconsin is naturally high in phosphorus.
Phosphorus is the nutrient that fuels the blue-green cyanobacteria blooms on Tainter Lake and Lake Menomin.
Procedure manual
The DNR representative says the village’s standard operating procedure manual should be updated, Bates said.
After a conversation with Jon Strand of CBS Squared, which is the engineering company the village contracts with, the scope of service with CBS Squared would be updated to include a phosphorus tracking spreadsheet and a violation prevention plan, he said.
The cost for the additional services would be $4,293, and CBS Squared would submit the violation prevention plan to the DNR, Bates said.
All the way back to 2021, Colfax was non-compliant — “but no one said anything,” he said.
The DNR representative Bates had talked to said he could not speak for previous DNR personnel who were supposed to be tracking the phosphorus discharge, Bates said.
While it appears that Colfax was non-compliant by the numbers sent to the DNR, that does not necessarily mean the actual phosphorus in the discharge to the Red Cedar River was as much as was indicated by the reports calculated using the influent gallons rather than the effluent gallons.
Monthly
The DNR is willing to work with the village and has indicated the village should start tracking phosphorus discharge monthly, Bates said.
Tracking phosphorus monthly would mean filling out another form to submit to the DNR, he said.
What if the DNR declines the violation prevention plan submitted by CBS Squared? asked Carey Davis, village trustee.
Then the prevention plan would have to be rewritten. The DNR might want more information, or they might want more testing, perhaps one time per week instead of twice a month, Bates said.
Being turned down by the DNR is a possibility, but representatives for CBS Squared said the company has never had a violation prevention plan turned down, he said.
If the plan was declined by the DNR, CBS Squared would add to the information as requested and resubmit it at no additional cost, Bates said.
Would the information on phosphorus discharge have to be submitted to CBS Squared monthly? asked Margaret Burcham, village trustee.
The information would be for Colfax’s own use and for Colfax to track the phosphorus discharge, Bates said.
“We do not want to overload on alum, either,” he said.
Colfax would fill out the spreadsheet, and then the information would be reported to the DNR, he said.
2013
No one from the DNR has come to Colfax to do an inspection since 2013, Bates said.
The DNR still has regulations that have to be followed, but the DNR does not have enough personnel to enforce the regulations or to follow up with the municipalities, he said.
CBS Squared does not agree with the DNR calculation for 500 pounds, Bates noted.
What causes the phosphorus discharge to increase? asked Clint Best, village trustee.
The wastewater treatment lagoons are not currently discharging, Bates said.
Discharge is done over the summer so there is enough room for winter storage, he said.
Usually from April or May until November, the village discharges from the wastewater treatment lagoons, and last summer was dry with very little rain, Bates said.
The more gallons that are discharged, the more phosphorus that is going to be discharged, he said, noting that last November, the village discharged a total of six million gallons.
The more water that is discharged that the plant cannot treat, the higher the phosphorus amount is in the discharge, Bates said
Instead of discharging all at ounce, the discharge can be released gradually over the whole summer, he said.
Six million gallons in one month is the most the village has ever discharged, Bates said.
An Olympic sized swimming pool is 165 feet long by 56 feet wide and holds nearly 500,000 gallons, so six million gallons would be a little more than 12 Olympic sized swimming pools.
Burcham asked if there could have been an alum miscalculation.
There could have been an alum miscalculation. The effluent average is different than the influent average, and in one month, the phosphorus discharge was 218 pounds, Bates said, adding that he did not know why the amount would be so different.
If the phosphorus is less than 518 pounds, it is sill more than 320 pounds, he said.
New permit
In the next WPDES permit for Colfax, the village will probably be required to build a storage facility for the alum because right now, the tank is sitting on the bank of the lagoon, Bates said.
The alum needs an emergency spill storage facility, he said.
Once the permit is issued, then the chemical storage building can be put into the budget, Bates said.
The WPDES permits are issued every five years, and the chemical storage building will probably not be required the first year, but could be required in the third, fourth or fifth year of the permit, he said.
The alum tank “sits in the wide open” and there is no spill storage, Bates reiterated.
The Colfax Village Board voted unanimously to authorize CBS Squared to write the violation prevention plan and submit it to the DNR along with designing a spreadsheet to allow tracking the phosphorus at a cost of $4,293.
Village Trustee Gary Stene was absent from the meeting.
