Field Office Compliance - Spill

IPL - Ottumwa Generating Station- Switchgrass Processing Facility - 318511125
20775 Power Plant Road Chillicothe, IA 52501
Wapello County

FO 6

Spill Number:
010516-JPR-1612
Spill Location:
41.093207, -92.554029
Spill County:
Wapello
FO 6
Incident Report
Reported By:
  • Sec: 26
  • Tier: 73
  • Range: 15 W
  • Lat:
  • Long:
Responsible Party
Remove Facility
Spill Contact
Select Name Program Type
IOWA SOUTHERN UTILITIES Major Industrial Owner
INTERSTATE POWER AND LIGHT COMPANY Major Industrial Owner
Major Industrial Mailing Contact
Major Industrial Mailing Contact
Major Industrial Mailing Contact
Major Industrial Mailing Contact
Major Industrial Mailing Contact
Major Industrial Mailing Contact
Interstate Power & Light Company FO Legally Responsible Entity
Rob Saunders FO Regulatory Contact
Interstate Power and Light Title V Public Contact
Michael X Li Title V Public Contact
Rob Saunders Title V Public Contact
Joseph Hoch Title V Public Contact
Derek Roberts Title V Public Contact
Matt Loehr Title V Public Contact
Danny Lamb Title V Public Contact
Material Information
Report
Document Name Type File Date Note
07-31-2024\010516-JPR-1612.pdf
Report
File Name File Type File Date Note
Comments
1/5/2016 1/5/2016 1600: The facility has a permit to discharge from the ponds to the river and has a pH monitor at the pond. They are required to test the pH as part of their discharge permit. None of the mixture has been released off site or to the river. The release was stopped as of 15:30 on January 5, 2015. I required the facility to test the pH of the bottom ash ponds to ensure that it has not been raised. The facility will clean up the spilled material and return it to the process. I requested that they notify me when the material has been completely cleaned up at returned to the process. JON RYK
1/7/2016 1/7/2016 1330: Received call from Rob Saunders at Alliant OGS to update on the spill and cleanup efforts. He informed me that the quantity that was released was estimated at 10,000 gallons. He stated that they have recovered what was released to the concrete area and that they were working on cleaning up the area of gravel. He informed me that a pH test on the spilled material revealed a pH of 12.2. They cleaned up much of the slurry from the concrete using vacuum trucks to pump it to a concrete basin which they pump to the process. They are using a skid steer to clean up the impacted gravel area and putting the material into lined dumpsters which will be covered. The cleanup contractor they are using is Hydroclean. He stated that the disposal facility will take the material as non-hazardous waste but needs to have a hydrocarbon test done. He anticipates that they will have the results of the hydrocarbon test in about a week. They plan to store the impacted gravel in the lined and covered dumpsters until they get the clearance for disposal from the disposal facility. They estimate having the spilled material cleaned up by tomorrow (1/8/16) but are prepared to work into Saturday (1/9/16) if needed. The estimate of the amount of the material that made it to the bottom ash pond is approximately 200 gallons. He stated that they have seen no impact to the effluent pH of the bottom ash pond. JON RYK
1/7/2016 1/7/2016 1330 (continued): the contaminated soil will be taken to the Wapello County landfill for disposal as contaminated. Hydroclean will take the liquid material that cannot be reused in the processes to their treatment and disposal facility in Ankeny, IA. JON RYK
1/8/2016 1/7/2016 1529: Rob Saunders called to give an update on the cleanup activities. They had two more vacuum trucks there today, one large one and one small. They used fire hoses to rinse the gravel in the impacted area and placed the hoses for the vacuum trucks in a low area to collect the rinsate. The rinsate was collected for disposal and they also collected more of the impacted gravel to place in the dumpsters. They used pH paper to test ponded water in the area of the spill after rinsing it and they had pHs from 7 to 8.5. Their discharge permit from the bottom ash pond allows pHs from 6 to 9. I asked Rob if he got a pH reading from the area where the water that made it to the drains would have entered the bottom ash pond but he mentioned that he has not done that and that he would need to find those locations. I also asked him to include the daily pH readings on the effluent from the bottom ash ponds with the 30 day report for a couple of days prior to the spill and after the spill. JON RYK
1/29/2016 1/25/2016: Received 30 day report for the spill and the cleanup. 30 day report included information on the cleanup of the spill, the hazardous waste manifests for the disposal of the contaminated gravel, the analytical report for hydrocarbons that the Wapello County Sanitary Landfill had requested, and printouts from the pH monitor for Outfall 001 which showed no impact on the pH of the effluent from the bottom ash pond. JON RYK
Public Water Suppliers
Name Supply Type PWS ID Operator: Name / Phone Number Contacted
Compliance Tracking
Action Type Date Completed Date Comment
State of Iowa DNR Home Site Policy
Leading Iowans in caring for our natural resources
Version: 2.3.2.24780