SPRINGVILLE — A Springville company is taking responsibility for an illegal discharge of product that overwhelmed the Springville sewage treatment plant and killed thousands of carp, small mouth bass and blue gill fish in ponds and in Spring Creek, which leads to Utah Lake.
Wildlife specialists have been using canoes since the discovery of the dead fish on Wednesday to determine whether the product has reached Utah Lake and whether the endangered June sucker, which is indigenous to the lake, has been affected. So far, their investigation has found no evidence the chemical has reached the lake.
Gary Takagi, chief operating officer for E-Excel International issued a press release Wednesday afternoon that said:
"We have a long established procedure for proper disposal of unused finished products. We have concluded after our internal investigation that in violation of that policy certain employees disposed of unused finished product by pouring those products down a drain. Those employees have been terminated. We are fully cooperating with the appropriate city and state officials in their investigation of the matter."
Chris Imbrogno, a Division of Water Quality investigator, and U.S. Fish and Game wildlife specialist Chris Klein canoed into the lake as part of the investigation. Imbrogno said they found no dead fish in the lake as of Wednesday night.
Thousands of fish died as the soap spilled into the carp-filled ponds and then into Spring Creek.
The sewer treatment plant is designed to treat organic material, and if something it doesn't normally treat comes into the system, it may pass through, said City Attorney Troy Fitzgerald.
Another possibility, since the dumping included at least one 55-gallon drum of the product, is that bacteria used to treat effluent at the plant was also killed by the soap, said Springville Police Lt. Dave Caron. The treatment plant is now back to normal, he said.
"City employees have pulled out about 10,000 pounds of the larger carp (from the ponds)," Imbrogno said. City residents helped pull out up to 5,000 additional pounds of the dead fish.
While the soap product is not toxic for humans, it can suffocate fish, officials said.
Caron said five employees at E-Excel were apparently involved in the improper dumping.
Imbrogno said officials are considering citing the company for "negligence" but that "there are no answers yet."
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