On July 15, 2016 the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP), issued a Notice of Violation Letter to the City of Apopka. The letter from FDEP accused the City of improperly discharging treated effluent from the City's wastewater treatment plant onto a wooded area in violation of FDEP rules. The notice of violation included a proposed fine in the amount of $3,000.
The City responded to the violation notice with a letter dated July 19, 2016. In the letter, Jay Davoll, Public Services Director for the City, explained what had happened:
"The initial problem was identified on Friday, June 24, 2016. We took immediate action to correct the broken pipes that we thought was the problem. There was an insignificant amount of ponding at this time in a low area on the east side of the spray field. By the end of that day, it appeared that the broken pipes were corrected and the plant was now producing effluent to reclaim water standards."
"Unfortunately, that evening, the plant dropped again and we needed to send secondary effluent to the spray field. The plant operation did not allow us to reach reclaim standards the entire weekend, so we had lo utilize the spray field the entire time. "
"Monday, June 27, we were notified that there was apparently additional breaks in the spray field pipes. The low area to the east side of the spray field was inundated with with secondary effluent. We began diverting the secondary effluent away from this spray field to our holding ponds and to the south spray field. At the same time, we were still working on the bringing the plant back to producing reclaim water standard effluent.
"With the need to move the water away from the low area on the east side, diesel pumps were installed. With every direction available being up hill and due to the existing contours of the spray field, it was apparently diverted our 10-acre parcel that the City purchased back in 2003."
"As the series of these events died down, the initial off site discharge was removed and we self-reported the incident on Tuesday, June 28. We estimated that approximately 100,000 gallons were discharged onto our vacant property."
In summary, in order to fix some broken pipes the City had to pump "secondary effluent" away from the problem area. The secondary effluent was pumped to an area owned by the City, but outside of the permit area designated by FDEP.
Yesterday, FDEP conducted a file review of the event. Today, FDEP notified the City that they have accepted the City's explanation and have decided to reduce the penalty to zero, per FDEP's August 12 Letter.
The Apopka Voice reached out to FDEP and asked why the fine was rescinded. Jess Boyd, from FDEP's Press Office provided this explanation:
"The dewatering of treated effluent to perform line repair occurred on land owned by the City of Apopka and was contained on site. DEP initially proposed penalties in response to Apopka reporting the incident late. In response to the proposed penalties, Apopka provided further details, which showed that Apopka’s corrective actions for the line break were timely and appropriate, and it confirmed that soil and groundwater harm is not associated. Because the utility acted expeditiously and appropriately, and the issue was satisfactorily resolved, the department determined that no penalty was warranted."
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To fully understand all of this one must first be aware of how wastewater is handled by the City. Wastewater travels underground from the homes and businesses in Apopka through a complex series of pipes and pumping stations. Ultimately, everything arrives at the City's wastewater treatment plant on East Cleveland Street. The plant treats approximately 3 Million gallons per day.
What happens to the treated wastewater?
It depends. If the treated wastewater meets certain standards it becomes "Reclaimed Water" and is sent into Apopka's Reclaimed Water system. Since 1989 the City has sold Reclaimed Water to be used for irrigation to customers such as the Errol Estate Country Club, Rock Springs Ridge Country Club, Zellwood Station Country Club, Englemann's Nurseries, Bronson Citrus, and numerous residential subdivisions throughout the City, according to the City's website.
What happens if the treated waste water does not meet the Reclaimed Water standards?
Then it is considered, "Treated Effluent," and it is sent to the City's sprayfields located east of the plant and south of East Cleveland Street. Prior to 1989 all of water discharged from the plant went to the sprayfields.
Many consider sprayfield irrigation to be one of the most beneficial ways of dealing with wastewater. According to the Virginia Department of Health, "When properly designed, spray irrigation places effluent where plants can take up nutrients, sunlight can provide some disinfection, soil microbes can consume remaining organic matter, ground water resources are recharged, and point source discharges are eliminated. Properly designed and operated, spray irrigation is cost effective, beneficial and not a nuisance."
How often does the City use the sprayfields?
The City uses the sprayfields as little as possible since the objective now is to produce Reclaimed Water that can be sold. From August 1, 2015 to April 30, 2016, the City used the sprayfields for only seven days which represented only 2.6% of the days during that nine-month period.
But in May and June of this year the City used the sprayfields at a much higher rate. The sprayfields were used 20 days in May and 27 days in June. In July 2016 the sprayfields were used only 10 days.
