Incident Report - Discharge of Muddy Water Into Sulphur Creek - July 28, 2008

On July 28, 2008, muddy water was discharged from the Marjol site into Sulphur Creek. The discharge lasted for about a half hour to forty minutes and was in violation of site procedures. Fortunately, the water that was discharged, although muddy, was from the new basin which is only collecting water from areas of the Site that are not contaminated. AGC collected two sediment samples at the location where the basin water discharges into Sulphur Creek. The two samples had lead readings that were below the detection limit of the instrument so there is no evidence of a release of lead-contaminated sediment into the river. A sample was taken in the river for confirmation following the protocols in the design but the results of the lead analysis have not been received yet. Throop Borough also tested the sediments in Sulphur Creek but those results aren’t available yet either.

Even though the discharge was from clean areas, the incident should not have occurred, and Throop Borough should have been contacted sooner. These are both significant errors that called for reconsideration of site procedures.

Gould voluntarily shut down construction operations at the Site on Wednesday, July 30, 2008, in order that the incident which occurred could be properly addressed. A meeting was held on Thursday, July 31, 2008, to discuss the incident and develop a set of procedures such that this type of incident does not happen again in the future. Representatives from Gould, AGC, SCE, PADEP, USEPA, Throop Borough, Representative Frank Andrews Shimkus, and members of the press were in attendance at the meeting.

At the meeting, AGC reviewed the measures that Gould, AGC and SCE proposed to prevent any such incident from happening again.
 

●    Directives to stop an activity will be given visually as well as orally using a handwritten “STOP”, flag or pre-determined signal.

●    Daily operational meetings will be held to discuss the next day’s work and develop contingency plans in the event that something unexpected happens.  

●    If an established procedure is modified, then a test run will be conducted to ensure that the modified procedure will accomplish the objectives.

Changes were made on SCE’s on-site personnel as well to improve internal communications and communications with AGC. Changes were also made in AGC staffing and procedures at the site to emphasize the need to inform Borough officials immediately of any unexpected event of possible public concern.

Both USEPA and PADEP stated that they did not have a problem with work resuming on Friday, August 1, 2008. PADEP required that a detailed report on the incident be provided to it, and they are conducting their own investigation. (Click here to review the NPDES non-compliance report on the incident.) Throop Borough has been provided a copy of the report. 

(Click the dates below to read articles and an editorial from the Scranton Times.)

                                            -    Article, July 30, 2008

                                            -    Article, July 31, 2008

                                            -    Article, August 1, 2008

                                            -    Editorial, August 1, 2008

 

Page Last Modified Thursday November 12, 2009 12:32:09 PM