Cedar City has been fined $15,000 for a wastewater-quality violation and may owe more if the city doesn't act quickly to fix the problem.

As part of the state sanction, the city is required to conduct an $8,000 technical evaluation of its sewage system.The Utah Department of Environmental Quality has threatened to fine the city another $15,000 if immediate measures aren't taken to reduce the amount of solid pollutants being released into the sewer system.

While there is no immediate public health risk, there is a potential environmental threat after sewage treatment. Suspended solids are anything that comes out in the wastewater and places a biological oxygen demand on the water.

Cedar wastewater treatment plant manager Grant Back said the city's current permit allows a maximum average of 25 milligrams of suspended solids per liter of water in a 30-day period. It also allows for an average of 35 milligrams over seven days.

The city has exceeded the 30-day limit by about six milligrams and the seven-day limit by about five.

The fine could have been much worse. Both the Environmental Protection Agency and the Utah Department of Environmental Quality Water Division could have fined the city up to $10,000 each per day.

The city's wastewater treatment plant has had problems since its construction in the early 1970s, according to city officials.

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Mayor Harold Shirley said the large fine is representative of strict EPA and DEQ standards, not risk.

"If it were a health hazard we'd be looking at a $900,000 fine instead of a $15,000 fine," Shirley said.

He said that at the current rate of emission, ground water could become contaminated.

"No one really knows what is wrong with the plant," he said. "We just bought a lemon."

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