15,000 gallons of wastewater spill from Crestview bioreactor tank
Tom McLaughlin
tmclaughlin@nwfdailynews.com
CRESTVIEW — Approximately 15,000 gallons of partially treated wastewater spilled Tuesday evening from an Okaloosa County Water and Sewer bioreactor tank. County officials were alerted to the spill when a high-level alarm at the Jerry Mitchem Water Reclamation Facility in Crestview was activated at approximately 7:30 p.m., according to a pollution notice from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. A lead operator arrived at the Fairchild Road industrial park where the plant is located “to discover one membrane bioreactor tank overflowing with foam,” the notice said. “It foamed inside the tank and came over the wall,” said Mark Wise, the deputy director of the county's Water and Sewer Department. Wise said it is not yet known what caused the spill and Water and Sewer staff are attempting to determine whether the cause of the foaming came from outside or was already inside the reclamation plant. OCWS is waiting for lab results and is conducting a field investigation of the reclamation facility's collection system “to see if there's anything out of the norm,” Wise said. The bioreactor tanks contain living organisms that treat the sewage flowing into the reclamation facility, Wise said. Nothing similar to the Tuesday event had occurred previously. The foam spilled onto the grounds of the facility and ultimately flowed into the on-site retention basin, according to the news release. “Due to inclement weather at the time of the overflow, rainwater transformed the accumulated foam into liquid biosolids,” the release said. All partially treated wastewater was contained on the grounds of the plant. Nothing escaped into a water body or onto public property, Wise said. The tank involved is no longer overflowing, but Water and Sewer staff continue to monitor the situation, Wise said. “There is still a little bit of foaming occurring,” he said. A spill of 15,000 gallons of wastewater is larger than most spills with which the OCWS contends, Wise said. The majority of spills total 1,000 or fewer gallons.
