Contact: Cathy Rofshus, 507-206-2608
Winnebago, Minn. ― The city of Winnebago in south-central Minnesota has paid a $12,700 penalty to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) for alleged violations at its wastewater treatment plant. The city is taking steps to prevent future violations.
The Winnebago facility violated several limits for discharging treated wastewater to the Blue Earth River in the early months of 2010. It failed to keep equipment in working order, to adequately staff the plant, and to control high-strength wastewater from a local industry, Continental Carbonics. Cold weather was also a factor.
One measure of pollutants in the facility’s wastewater – carbonaceous biochemical oxygen demand – was more than six times its permitted limit in January 2010, indicating that the wastewater lacked enough dissolved oxygen to aid in organic matter decomposition.
The MPCA found that the facility failed to control wastewater from the local business – allowing pollutants to pass through and disrupt the treatment process – by failing to enforce its wastewater agreement with the business and setting only minimal fines.
The city of Winnebago is taking corrective action, such as installing new equipment and writing a new operations manual, as outlined in its stipulation agreement with the MPCA.
The stipulation agreement is one tool that the MPCA uses to achieve compliance with environmental laws. When calculating penalties, the MPCA takes into account how seriously the violation affected the environment, whether it was a first time or repeat violation and how promptly the violation was reported to appropriate authorities. The agency also attempts to recover the calculated economic benefit gained by failure to comply with environmental laws in a timely manner.
For more information, go to the MPCA website at www.pca.state.mn.us.
