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June 30, 1999
Park seeks to comply with regulations on discharge of pool waterMPCA finds noillegal dischargeinto Cottonwood RiverBy SARA SYVERSON Journal Staff Writer NEW ULM -- An anonymous complaint has prompted Flandrau State Park officials to seek a Minnesota Pollution Control Agency permit for the release of chlorine from the park swimming pool into the Cottonwood River. The complaint, possibly made by an employee, was made to a Minnesota Duty Officer on May 31. It was relayed to the Brown County Sheriff. The caller said the park had been releasing chlorine from the swimming pool directly into the Cottonwood River without treating the water in the park's sediment ponds prior to its release. According to Flandrau State Park Manager Lowell Jaeger, the chlorinated water from the swimming pool is pumped into a sediment pond where it stays for a period of time while the chlorine dissipates. The water, which is comparable to drinking water at this point, is then released into the Cottonwood River, according to Jaeger. This procedure is done once or twice per day. "This is a standard operating procedure here," said Jaeger, "We don't know why this was called in. In our sediment basin our testing equipment shows no chlorine going into the river." Craig Schaeffer, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Emergency Response Specialist at the Marshall area office, said, "It appears we have a disgruntled employee. It doesn't appear that there's a chlorine discharge into the river," said Schaeffer, "We could not find anything to substantiate an illegal discharge. It appears that things are going the way they are supposed to. Things were not out of the ordinary, but it is a situation we will continue to monitor and check. We're just going to keep an eye on it." Joellen Rumley, a staff engineer with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency said that before the faxed complaint was made, Jaeger had called the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency to tell them the park did not have a permit for this operating procedure for the pool water release. "We decided they probably did need one - with that volume of water, they would probably need to have a permit," said Rumley, "We will draft a permit and give them the (chlorine) limit. The main focus of the permit will be a chlorine residual limit and monitoring." There may also be the possibility of having to do a dechlorination process, if necessary, Rumley said. "Our plan of action is to get the park in compliance and we will set some compliance schedule dates," said Rumley, "Jaeger seemed very amenable to doing whatever needs to be done."
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