MOUNT VERNON — A preliminary report from an independent lab states there are no negative consequences from a lime sludge spillover on the property of Lyle David Daniels.
At the July 25 Mount Vernon City Council meeting, Daniels asked the city to stop hauling lime sludge from the city’s lagoon to a temporary storage site at the water treatment plant on Old Delaware Road.
Daniels’ Clinton Township property abuts the field where the city is spreading the sludge. A heavy rain in July turned the sludge into slurry which spilled onto his property.
Daniels said the lime analyses in September 2021 and March 2022 showed traces of heavy metals such as arsenic, cadmium, and chromium. He also contends the city does not have the proper permits for hauling the sludge to a temporary storage site.
The city has since built earthen embankments to prevent further spillovers. The city also hired a consultant to test the soil on Daniels’ property.
Rendell Shira, an independent consultant through RS Crop Consulting in Mount Vernon and chairman of the Knox Soil and Water Conservation District Board of Supervisors, took soil samples from three areas on Daniels’ property. He submitted the samples — taken from the yard, the area where the sludge “ponded,” and the garden area where there was lime residue — to Brookside Labs Inc. in New Bremen.
According to the preliminary results, there are no negative consequences from the sludge spillover. Results showed high levels of copper and zinc in the yard sample; however, the yard sample showed no evidence of contamination by the sludge.
Additionally, Shira said the yard appears normal, so the high levels of copper and zinc do not appear to be hurting the grass.
Relating to Daniels’ previous comments about trace amounts of arsenic and cadmium in the lagoon samples, Shira said the preliminary report showed minimal difference between the three samples from Daniels’ property. He noted that the expectation would be that the “ponded” sample would show the highest results of those elements, but it did not.
The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency visited the storage site the last week in July. The city does not yet have a report from that visit.
At Monday’s council meeting, Mayor Matt Star said four EPA departments are now involved.
“They are all still getting together on how we are handling this,” he told council. “They said we should probably have a stormwater permit, but we were told at the time we did not need one. [Public Utilities Director] Dr. Marshall has that in writing.”
Starr said that although the city did not need a permit because the city was not disturbing the ground during the sludge removal, the city did apply for one because when it is time to dig up the lime, the ground will be disturbed.
In the course of taking soil samples from Daniels’ yard, the city resurveyed the property lines. The survey showed that Daniels’ barn, garden, and burn pits encroach on city property.
Councilmen John Francis and Mike Hillier questioned whether Daniels was notified of the temporary storage of the sludge, whether the city has a plan for storing the sludge moving forward, and whether the city will communicate that plan to Daniels.
“Wouldn’t it be a sense of courtesy to adjoining places to say, ‘this is what we are going to do?” asked Francis.
“I think one of the things the city can do is show [Daniels] what our plan is to store it there,” Hillier said.
Council members also requested a copy of the beneficial use permit. The beneficial use permit allows sludge removal from the lagoon and for application on a farmer’s field.
Starr said the sludge removal is almost complete and should wrap up in a couple of days. He also said the executive director of Ariel-Foundation Park requested about 10 truckloads of lime for the area of the park known as The Ruins.
“However, beneficial use does not allow for parks to have that, so we are looking at what we need to do to make that happen,” Starr said.
“We are working with the EPA to get the correct permit for the park to use it,” Law Director Rob Broeren added.