FARMINGTON – Authorities said Monday that an estimated 150 gallons of kerosene oil spilled at Farmington’s wastewater treatment plant does not pose a significant or immediate environmental threat.
“Nothing is at risk, per se, it’s all pretty well contained in the soil,” said Robert Williams, an oil and hazardous materials specialist with the state’s Department of Environmental Protection. “It’s not going to get to the river right away. That would be the major concern,” he added.
The spill was discovered Friday afternoon outside the sludge treatment facility located a few hundred feet from the Sandy River.
A malfunctioning shut-off valve was the cause of the spill, according to Steve Moore, wastewater superintendent Monday. The oil spilled out of a top vent of one of two tandem oil tanks when a shut-off valve from one blocked oil flow in both directions to it. Recirculated oil going back to the tanks would normally be evenly distributed between the two but instead overflowed from the only tank available.
Moore said he noticed a strong smell of oil and then found pink snow around the tanks late Friday afternoon. Kerosene oil is dyed red.
Karkos plumbing was able to repair the faulty valve that afternoon, but Moore and Town Manager Richard Davis, said Monday, that the two 330-gallon tanks need to be replaced with a single tank.
“It’s an opportunity to fix a bad situation down there,” Davis said. “It’s an opportunity to do it right when it wasn’t done right in the first place,” he said. The two-tank system was installed in 1992.
Davis figured about $300 worth of oil was lost in the spill. Neither he nor Moore had estimates yet on replacing the tanks with a double-wall single tank and building a roof shelter over it for protection. The cost of excavating the oily soil and its disposal was also unknown Monday.
Because the sewer district does not serve the entire town, the issue will not affect the town’s budget nor future taxes, Davis said. He also does not expect it to affect sewer rates. The district has more than enough in a reserve account to pay for cleanup and replacement costs, he said.
Williams, from the DEP, came to inspect the site Friday. He helped workers shovel and bag the pink snow and said he’ll be back sometime this week to oversee the excavating.
“I’ll be there to tell them when to stop digging,” he said.
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