This entry from Sunday talked about the upcoming Indiana Water Pollution Control Board (WPCB) meeting, and the report to be made by David M. Wagner, Board member and Hearing Officer Appointed by the Board. November 8, 2004, to look into complaints made by citizens' groups about failing private treatment plants in Floyd County. Here are the recommendations Mr. Wagner submitted to the WPCB.
The WPCB met yesterday. As reported to me, "The board is taking no further action on the citizen's rulemaking suggested, but is requesting that the agency take a look at starting a broader rulemaking with a number of suggestions by Dave Wagner."
A story today in the Louisville Courier-Journal, headlined "State to review sewage plant rules: Action prompted by 2 Floyd groups," reports the outcome. Some quotes:
A state board unanimously approved a full-scale review of Indiana's regulations for sewage-treatment plants yesterday. * * *Posted by Marcia Oddi at November 24, 2004 10:18 AM"It's what we wanted and more," said Brian Zipperle, a vice president of Greenville Concerned Citizens, who attended yesterday's water pollution board meeting in Indianapolis.
The two Floyd County groups had proposed a stringent rule for limiting pollution in small streams. It would have required treated sewage to be discharged into streams in which there is always at least 10 times as much water as sewage.
David Wagner, an environmental consultant and member of the board, held hearings around the state on the groups' proposal in the fall and submitted a report at yesterday's meeting.
In the report, he recommended against that change, saying the main problems with failing sewage-treatment plants are poor maintenance and operation, not the size of the streams into which they discharge.
But he agreed with the Floyd County groups that there are widespread problems with the state's regulation of small treatment plants.
Wagner said he is pleased with the board's unanimous vote to "review the existing rules and make them better."