Federal regulators are proposing a $12,000 penalty against Frederick Water and the Frederick-Winchester Service Authority for allegedly violating their pollution discharge permit at a wastewater treatment plant in southeastern Frederick County, according to a public notice filed Monday by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
In a summary of violations, the EPA Mid-Atlantic Region office describes “sixty effluent (sewer) limit exceedances for nitrogen, chloride, and biochemical oxygen” that were found at the Crooked Run Wastewater Treatment Plant during an “information request action” in 2021.
The plant is located at 130 Crappie Court in the Lake Frederick residential development. Owned by the Frederick-Winchester Service Authority, it is operated by Frederick Water and discharges treated wastewater into the low-flowing Crooked Run stream.
The EPA is proposing to file a consent agreement and final order (CAFO) levying an administrative civil penalty in the amount of $12,000 against the two local agencies.
Promy Tabassum, assistant regional counsel for the U.S. EPA Mid-Atlantic Region, wrote in an email on Tuesday that there are limits on the amount of specific effluents (like nitrogen, chloride and biochemical oxygen) that treated wastewater can have once it is released into waterways, per a wastewater facility’s Virginia Department of Environmental Quality permit.
“The treated water that was released into Crooked Run exceeded the wastewater facility’s permit limits 60 times for nitrogen, chloride, and biochemical oxygen,” Tabassum wrote.
The public notice alleges that Frederick Water and the Frederick-Winchester Sanitation Authority violated their national pollutant discharge elimination system (NPDES) permit. Created in 1972 by the Clean Water Act, the NPDES permit program addresses water pollution by regulating point sources that discharge pollutants to waters of the United States, according to the EPA.
Frederick Water Administrative Assistant Jamie McFadden said in an interview on Tuesday that the utility has been aware of an issue involving the concentration levels of certain nutrients in wastewater discharged into Crooked Run for several years due to limitations surrounding capacity and treatment capabilities at the plant.
The problem seems to be a high concentration of chlorides stemming from residential water softener brine discharged into the sewer system that cannot be removed through the wastewater treatment process, she said.
She explained that Frederick Water has been working to resolve the issue since around 2017, when chlorine violations of its pollution discharge permit began to occur.
Frederick Water officials have met with state and federal regulators, as well as consulted with engineers and the state Department of Wildlife Resources, in an attempt to find a solution, she said.
In her email, Tabassum wrote that the EPA has been in discussions with Frederick Water and the Frederick-Winchester Service Authority since January 2022 to remedy the violations. She also said the EPA focused first on “injunctive relief” and that “once we had an agreement with a plan to address the violations, we then moved to penalties.”
“One of the great things is that everyone involved is really just trying to make sure we’re protecting the environment,” McFadden said. “We report every month to the DEQ. Anytime there’s a violation, we would contact DEQ and they would try to work with us to find a solution and minimize those. But as it went on and we were not able to find a solution, around 2021 is when EPA stepped in.”
In McFadden’s words, the EPA has more recently told Frederick Water, essentially, “You have to stop talking about it. You have to take some kind of action now … You’re out of time.”
An administrative order of consent was issued by the EPA on Dec. 19. The proposed penalty was issued Monday.
McFadden was asked about the violations outlined in the EPA’s public notice for the proposed penalties.
“Basically, it means that there were too many nutrients that were being released into waterways, which can have environmental impacts. It could be algal blooms. It could be detrimental to fish and wildlife, things like that. Obviously, it’s not something that we were unaware of or not working on. It was functions of the capability of the plant,” McFadden said.
“To be clear this is strictly about the concentration of nutrients that are normally found in wastewater. It is not any sort of unregulated release. Nothing is being dumped illegally. It’s simply capacity and treatment capabilities,” McFadden said.
She said the treatment plant, when it was constructed by a developer of Lake Frederick around 2008, was not designed to “receive the type of flows it is currently receiving.” McFadden said the plant is undersized.
The Crooked Run Wastewater Treatment Plant serves the Lake Frederick development, which makes it different from other wastewater treatment facilities in the county that see a mix of residential, industrial and commercial sewer.
Frederick Water’s plan is to retire the plant by 2025 and redirect the wastewater flows from the Lake Frederick area to the Parkins Mill Wastewater Treatment Plant at 158 W. Parkins Mill Road.
“The solution that we have come up with is basically converting the Crooked Run treatment facility into a pump station and then we’re going to build a force main that’s going to take those flows to our Parkins Mill Treatment facility,” McFadden said.
On Feb. 20, the Frederick Water Board of Directors — which is comprised of members appointed by the Frederick County Board of Supervisors — adopted a proposal after a public hearing to create new fees for some Frederick Water customers in a specific southeastern Frederick County service area. In part, the revenue generated by the new fees are aimed at resolving the problem at the Crooked Run plant.
The new fees became effective for customers of what is now an Inter-County Service Area (ICSA) on March 1. The service area includes the 973-acre Lake Frederick development and the 350-acre Double Tollgate Plan Area, according to a map on the Lake Frederick website.
“The Crooked Run Wastewater Treatment Plant in the Lake Frederick Community requires significant attention to alleviate existing and projected treatment limitations and permit violations. The high concentration of chlorides stemming from residential water softener brine discharged into the sewer system cannot be removed through the wastewater treatment process,” reads a post on Frederick Water’s website. “Consequently, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued an Administrative Order of Consent on December 19, 2023, requiring that wastewater flows be redirected to the Parkins Mill Wastewater Treatment Plant.”
There are three water treatment plants in Frederick County — the Opequon Water Reclamation Facility on Va. 7 on the border with Clarke County, the Parkins Mill Wastewater Treatment and the Crooked Run plant.
Frederick Water, which provides water and sewer service to more than 17,000 homes and businesses, does not own any of these facilities because of the stipulations of its articles of incorporation. The articles of incorporation, most recently updated in 2017, say the county’s sewage treatment facilities must be owned by the Frederick-Winchester Service Authority.
The EPA is receiving comments in the matter for 40 days via email. Comments are due May 3.
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