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St. Anthony Wastewater Treatment Plant Nets $33,000 EPA Penalty for Numerous Discharge Permit Violations

Release Date: 9/29/2005
Contact Information: Jim Corpuz
[email protected]
(206) 553-2342

September 29, 2005

The municipal wastewater treatment plant in St. Anthony, Idaho, has agreed to pay a $33,000 penalty to settle with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over violations of their Clean Water Act wastewater discharge permit. These permits, known as National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits, are part of the backbone of the nation’s system to protect rivers and lakes from pollution from cities and industries.

EPA is focusing attention on priority watersheds where facilities are discharging wastewater to rivers and streams that are already at their limits to receive certain pollutants. In the city of St. Anthony case, the facility received several warnings, both written and verbal, during the past several years.

Violations at the plant included routinely exceeding their permit limits for chlorine, biological oxygen demand (BOD), fecal coliform, and pH. High-levels of these pollutants can harm or kill aquatic life, and can make people ill if polluted water is ingested.

According to Jim Werntz, EPA’s Idaho Operations Office Director in Boise, “Communities have a responsibility to protect rivers and streams from wastewater treatment plant pollution. Preventing pollution and degradation of the water quality of the Henry’s Fork of the Snake River is critical for aquatic life, and essential for maintaining this world-class wild trout fishery.”

City of St. Anthony 1,141 violations (Penalty $33,000)

• The City of St. Anthony’s wastewater treatment facility serves a population of approximately 3400 and discharges effluent to the Henry’s Fork of the Snake River.

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Related Links:

Region 10 Compliance and Enforcement (yosemite.epa.gov/R10/ENFORCE.NSF/)

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