The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation representative conducted a compliance inspection of the Town of Amherst Waste Water Teatment Plant. The purpose of the inspection was to evaluate the facility for compliance with its State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (SPDES) permits and applicable regulations.
Eight serious concerns were noted during the inspection that require attention:
1. One of the four primary clarifiers was off line to replace the saw tooth rails on which the sludge collector rides. This unit has been off line for some time.
2. Due to the lack of workers serious needed work has not been done. One of the four first stage clarifiers is off line to replace the gear box. This unit has been off line for some time. The perimetere baffling used to enhjance settling has fallen off due to the fasteners rusting. (This is a warning system which tell the public if their basement are at risk of flooding.)
3. One of four sludge return pumps was out of order and pump 2 has a leaky seal.
4. Main sewer pump #4 needs to be rebuilt.
5. The grit collection units are all badly rusted due to age and all need major repair or replacement.
6. Our brand new gas compressor for the Oxygen Plant is not operating properly, leaving no redundancy for the existing compressor.
7. The WWTP generator has not been serviced since October of 2005.
8. THe WWTP Operation and Maintenance Manual calls for 28 Operators or Operator Trainees and 9 Laborers. The staff levels at the WWTP are currently 16 Operators and Trainees and 2 Laborers.
Our Plant has paid a $5000 fine for a major infraction at the WWTP and has also had several minor permit violations.
Of additional concern the lack of redundancy cited in #6 and the lack of maintenance on the WWTP generator cited in #7. The staffing levels at the WWTP are low. This is a serious problem. We need workers to maintain our 48 collection system pump stations.
The DEC strongly recommends that the Town reassess the WWTP staffing levels and that the number of operators and laborers be INCREASED.
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