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Mandated Phosphorous Removal Is No Problem For Snyderville Basin

A state-wide mandate is calling for clean-ups of nutrients or phosphorous to be undertaken on water treatment plants or bodies of water.

But reportedly, some legislators are concerned about the costs, and might act to limit the efforts.

Over at the Snyderville Basin Water Reclamation District, director Mike Luers says the costs are reasonable, and the problem needs solving.

Luers told KPCW that treatment should be undertaken now. If the state's water plants wait until a train wreck occurs, the costs will be a lot worse.

In the basin, Luers said his district has been addressing the issue for many years.

"Nitrogen Phosphorous are basically those ingredients are fertilizer that make your grass grow in your front yard, but they also promote the growth of vegetation in a stream. Too much of a good thing is a bad thing. As a result, here locally we have been removing phosphorus from the waste water that we treat at our East Canyon facility for over 15 years. That requirement was a result of a study that was done some 18 years ago that determined that because we have very small mountain streams with sensitive trout species. That we needed to limit the amount of phosphorus."

With the population growing in Utah, Luers said that three years ago, the Utah Water Quality Board set a benchmark to limit phosphorous.

"Back in 2015, the water quality board passed the modest nutrient rule, limiting--to some degree but not nearly as much as to what we're limited to here--the amount of phosphorus that can go into a stream. What's happening is that many of the waste water treatment plants in the valley are older, they need to be upgraded. Some of them haven't necessarily been maintained the way they maybe should have. When you put on top of that the cost of removing phosphorus they're looking at some significant sewer bill increases. They're not particularly fond of that. As a result, they're arguing they need better science behind removing nutrients."

Now, some legislators are proposing that if a cleanup costs more than $10 million, it would need the approval of the legislature.

But Luers sees a problem there. He said the EPA has given responsibility for enforcing the Clean Water Act to the state. If Utah backs away from that job, there may be a conflict with the federal government.

"If the bill is written so that the Natural Resources Agriculture and Environmental Committee just reviews the impact of the needed projects that's one thing. If they say it requires the entire legislature to prove any expenditure over $10 million then I think you're running into serious problems and you're letting politics dictate an environmental problem that needs to be solved."

He said the Snyderville District has been more compliant than most--due to the natural factors in the basin.

"Since we discharge into very small streams, and because our local streams have very much less water in them that they once had because we all moved here and are using the water. Our standards are 10 times more stringent than what they are being asked to meet. Again, we've been doing this for 15 years and we've had perfect compliance. What they're being asked to meet is pretty modest, it's pretty reasonable, it's much easier to meet than certainly what we do. It's pretty reasonable when you look at some of our surrounding states."

Luers said the state came up with a site-specific standard for Snyderville.

"So here in the Park City area we have a phosphorus limit of .1 parts per million and the state-wide is 1 parts per million. So because of our small streams and our growing population, again our phosphorus limit is 10 times more stringent than what's in place for the rest of the state."

But in the end, he said, other sectors of the state are facing some critical problems with nutrients or phosphorous.

"Utah lake is a good example, there's seven waste water treatment plants that are discharged into that lake. Utah County is expected to see a population increase of over 160% and to limit the amount of phosphorus going into that lake I think is reasonable. There's a lot of arguments about, 'well this lake has so much nutrients already in it, so much phosphorus already in it, that removing phosphorus from waste water doesn't make any difference.' There's some truth to that but there's also truth that as the population increase the toxic algae situation is going to get worse as you increase the amount of phosphorus in the lake."

Known for getting all the facts right, as well as his distinctive sign-off, Rick covered Summit County meetings and issues for 35 years on KPCW. He now heads the Friday Film Review team.
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