The Common Council met 02/15/2023. In addition to the update on the Trout Museum/Ellen Kort Peace Park proposal, Mayor Woodford also provided an update on the Polymer Incident that the wastewater treatment plan experienced on 12/26/2022.
I’ve provided a complete transcript of the discussion for your downloading pleasure.
This was discussed at the 01/10/2023 Utilities Committee meeting at which Utilities Director Chris Shaw had reported that on 12/26/2022, 4-5 months’ worth of cationic polymer was dumped into the treatment plant at one time. This was a very unique incident for which there was no literature to provide guidance, and although the treatment plant was up and running again, they were still assessing the long-term impact and damage.
At the Council meeting, Mayor Woodford told the Council that as of 01/23/2023 all normal operations had been restored at the plant. He noted, “There was no point where wastewater services to connected customers was interrupted. No untreated material and no treatment chemicals were released into the environment, and there were no injuries as a result of the incident.”
The contaminated polymer product was isolated and still needed to be properly disposed of and city staff was working on that process. Additionally, there was some remediation and repair of facility systems that would need to take place even though normal plant operations had been restored.
Mayor Woodford also noted that “Throughout the incident, we met our permit requirements for effluent and biosolids land application. In other words, we were within the allowable parameters throughout the course of the event in terms of the byproducts of the treatment process, which is good news.”
The city had assembled an internal fact-finding team to assess the root causes of what had happened and they were engaging a third-party reviewer to provide an external review of the work of the internal fact-finding team. The city was also in contact with its insurance carriers about the incident.
The mayor praised Utilities Director Chris Shaw and his staff for their hard work and the long hours they had put it at a time when many of them were planning to be on vacation for the holidays. “They’ve helped us avoid a much more serious issue as a result of their quick actions and their focused response.”
Alderperson Sheri Hartzheim (District 13) asked if Director Shaw would be able to assess and provide the Council with information regarding the extra heat expense to the city due to not being able to recycle the exhaust from the treatment process.
Mayor Woodford said that he would be able to do that as well as give an estimate of other expenses associated with the incident response and remediation and that the next update would come during the Utilities Committee meeting on 03/07/2023.
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1064888&GUID=1B410AD6-86CB-4CEC-B9CD-DB4327FF200F
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