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Industrial waste described as very light and fine was discovered this weekend infiltrating the Fox Farm Road wastewater treatment plant in Warsaw.
"It was in large quantity," said operator Dave Henderson. "It passed through the new plant sometime Friday night and was discovered during routine sampling Saturday morning."
Samples are taken 24 hours a day and read at regular intervals.
"It's a dark substance and did enter the Tippecanoe River," Henderson said.
Employees immediately diverted the flow into an unused holding tank and contacted the Indiana Department of Environmental Management. IDEM sent an emergency response team.
"We're still conducting tests," said Bonnie Nash, of IDEM's media relations office. "There is no immediate impact to the water or animals. We're working with the wastewater treatment plant to try and deal with the problem and determine the source."
Henderson said the substance didn't affect the "digesting bacteria" at the facility nor has there been an apparent fish kill.
The clam shell mussels, an endangered species with a protected river habitat, don't seem to have been affected either. They are burrowed deep into the river bed at this time of year. The Fish and Wildlife and Department of Natural Resources will check on their condition.
Brian Houghton of Jones & Henry Engineers worked with G&G Excavating owner Tom Groninger to construct a sand filter in the plant's effluent channel.
"We'll have to resume discharging into the river eventually," Henderson said. "I don't know how many truckloads of sand and pea gravel G&G brought in. It's nice to have good neighbors."
Laboratory results identifying the waste aren't expected until later this week.
