Contrary to reports published this week, Utah's industries and sewage treatment plants are not seriously polluting the state's waters, according to state Water Quality officials.
An environmental group on Tuesday released a report that criticized Utah as being the fifth worst state in noncompliance with the Clean Water Act. The report stated that 27 percent of Utah's "major" discharge facilities are seriously violating the act.But Fred Pehrson, assistant director of the Utah Division of Water Quality, said the report is "very misleading" and that the facts it presented were "out of context."
"The situation is entirely under control," Pehrson said Wednesday. "Those facilities have long since been addressed."
The report, issued by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, contained findings from an examination of Clean Water Act compliance across the country. It found that 11 of Utah's 40 major discharge facilities (those that discharge more than 1 million gallons of effluent per day into lakes, rivers or streams) were in "serious noncompliance" of clean-water permits.
That gave Utah a 27.4 percent noncompliance rate, good for fifth place behind Washington, Michigan, Indiana and Texas.
But Pehrson said there are two glaring problems with the group's report:
- The percentages belie the actual seriousness of the situation.
Utah has only 40 major discharge facilities compared to more industrialized states, which have hundreds. So, 11 noncompliance facilities looks worse in Utah than 50 would in another state, he said, yet the actual harm to the environment is much less in Utah.
- Some of the violations cited in the noncompliance cases were "paper violations," not water quality violations, and most of the cases have already been resolved.
Of the 11 facilities in question, three of them were in violation for failing to submit reports. Those were Hill Air Force Base and the cities of Logan and Springville. In addition, the Price River Water Improvement District was in noncompliance for a "laboratory error."
The other seven facilities were cited for water-quality problems. They were Geneva Steel, Southern Utah Fuel Co., Sunnyside Coal Co., Thiokol, the United Park City Mines and the cities of Kamas and Moroni.
"We don't deny those facilities were in noncompliance, but those are old cases and we have resolved those by taking enforcement action and issuing fines," Pehrson said.
Only the case involving United Park City Mines is unresolved. The state has issued a notice of violation to the company for exceeding toxicity limits in its discharge, which eventually winds up in the Jordanelle Reservoir. The company is currently investigating the type and the source of toxins, Pehrson said.
"We don't know what kind of contaminants is causing the toxicity, but we don't believe it's causing any significant environmental or public health risk. They have fish living right in the canal below their discharge."
The only other major facilities currently out of compliance are the Coastal States Sufco Mine in Carbon County and the Pennzoil Products Co. in Roosevelt.
So, if the environmental group were to examine Utah's major discharge facilities today, it would find only 7.5 percent to be in noncompliance, Pehrson said.