Iowa DNR News
Environmental Services Division
 
For immediate release                                                                                   Nov. 27, 2007 
 
DEBRIS LEADS TO WASTEWATER DISCHARGE IN MALCOM 
 
MEDIA CONTACT: Dave Perry, DNR Des Moines field office, (515) 725-0419 or (515) 250-1798.
 
MALCOM — Debris plugging a manhole in Malcom in Poweshiek County has resulted in a wastewater discharge to a stream.
 
Debris plugged a sanitary sewer line along an access road that leads to the city’s wastewater treatment lagoon. The city estimates less than 10,000 gallons of untreated wastewater flowed out of the manhole. The wastewater ran over the ground and into an unnamed tributary of Little Bear Creek, which flows into Bear Creek and the Iowa River.
 
City staff discovered the discharge at 3:30 p.m. Monday and set up a pump to collect the wastewater and divert it to the treatment facility’s lagoon. City staff kept the pump operating overnight until the debris could be cleaned out of the line on Tuesday morning.
 
The city reported the wastewater discharge to the DNR at 11:10 a.m. Tuesday. Wastewater bypasses due to mechanical failures or acts beyond the control of the owner (other than precipitation) must be reported to the DNR within 12 hours of onset or discovery. The DNR will issue the city a notice of violation for the late reporting.
 
Writer: Jessie Brown 
 
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