As the City of Guthrie deals with a blue-green algae bloom at a local lake, listeners have reached out with questions about contamination from a nearby wastewater treatment plant.
In December, the Department of Environmental Quality issued an emergency order for a plant that treats wastewater for Bethany and Warr Acres. Instead of discharging treated water, the plant was pumping raw sewage into Bluff Creek, which flows into Guthrie’s Liberty Lake.
Almost seven months later, DEQ spokesperson Erin Hatfield said the plant has new operators and has fixed most of the issues.
“There is still work to be done to get consistently back into compliance with permit limits,” Hatfield wrote in an email. “DEQ is pursuing ongoing enforcement to ensure the final steps are taken to achieve compliance.”
No direct connection has been made between the wastewater and Liberty Lake’s ongoing algal bloom — the city of Guthrie blames low water levels and agricultural runoff. But in mid-June, the treatment plant was still discharging nine times as much nitrogen as permitted, which could contribute to algal growth.
Guthrie has prohibited water-based recreational activities at Liberty Lake while the algae bloom persists. The city says it’s using a different lake for drinking water in the meantime, so drinking water should not be affected by either the algal bloom or discharge from the treatment plant.
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