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November 15, 2003Cause of spill has not been detectedCity manager: This is not acceptableByRecord-Eagle staff writer TRAVERSE CITY - The source of a sewage spill that dumped 146,000 gallons of partially treated sewage into the Boardman River last weekend "did not leave tracks" and likely won't be pinned down. A report on the Nov. 8 spill said the problem was traced to a control center that failed to start a lead pump and a backup pump, which caused wastewater to flow over last Saturday morning and run into the river. The report, completed by plant manager Scott Blair of Operations Management International (OMI), a private company that runs the treatment facility, said there were no obvious causes for the problem. No faulty electrical components were found, and no connection was made between the pump failure and the work being done by contractors for the ongoing $30 million plant upgrade. "It's frustrating," city manager Richard Lewis said of the inability to pinpoint the pump failure cause. "Our attitude is that this is not acceptable. We're going to do what we need to do to prevent it from happening again." The spill resulted in a water advisory for the river and the south end of West Grand Traverse Bay from the Grand Traverse County Health Department. The advisory was lifted Tuesday. The report recommends steps that could help eliminate similar problems, including installation of another alarm that would give operators a few more minutes notice of a primary pump failure, and connecting the backup pump to an alternate power source. Lewis said he doesn't yet have a cost estimate on those items. "We're constantly trying to build redundancy into the system to avoid problems like this," Lewis said. "But it is what it is - it's still a mechanical system and they're going to fail." OMI's report has been submitted to the state Department of Environmental Quality. Mike Stifler, the water division supervisor for the DEQ in Cadillac, said state officials will review the information next week before determining what follow up steps to require. It's unlikely the city will be fined for the incident, Stifler said. "We usually do that only if we feel there is negligence or intent," he said. DEQ officials say the city has an "excellent" record for operating the sewer plant since it began contracting with OMI in 1990. The regional sewer system had "serious problems" in the late 1980s, Stifler said, before some capital upgrades were made to improve the treatment steps for the sewage. "Those (problems) were all addressed, and have been maintained over the years," Stifler said. City officials say they remain confident in OMI's ability to manage the plant. The company is in the second year of a five-year contract that will pay it almost $1.7 million this year. OMI is headquartered outside of Denver and operates more than 170 municipal and private sewer and water plants around the world. Its parent company is CH2M Hill Companies Ltd., which is the contractor for the $30 million plant upgrade.
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