Illegal sump pumps cost Plainview (Neb.) more than $10,000
September 28, 2009

The EPA has come down on Plainview, Nebraska, for failure to comply with their Federal permit to discharge wastewater, known technically as a NPDES permit. The EPA is assessing a $15,000 civil penalty for failure to meet nitrogen and ammonia limits at the city's wastewater lagoon. The city is also being ordered to spend almost $11,000 on a public education campaign to get people to fix their sump pump connections so that they don't discharge into the city's sanitary sewer system. Many communities face the problem of illegal sump pump connections to sanitary sewer lines, but they're difficult to police. Those connections tend to overload wastewater plants, since heavy rainfall ends up flowing to the plant rather than simply percolating into the ground around those houses. Heavy rainfall can quadruple inflows to some wastewater plants.

We can help you with ammonia monitors and lagoon liners, as well as many other products for municipal wastewater treatment. Please feel free to contact us with your questions.

September 2009
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last revised September 2009