Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
An agreement has been approved between Warsaw and the Indiana Department of Environmental Management for the city to construct a sewer line towards Leesburg.
The Warsaw Board of Works approved the agreement at its Oct. 20 meeting.
The agreement has been approved in hopes to resolve Leesburg's sewer complications and abate penalties from IDEM, by Warsaw constructing a sewer line as far north as CR 400N.
The sewer line will begin at Symmetry Medical and extend to the Racquet Club, CR 400N.
The city will partner with both Leesburg and county officials to build the new sewer system, which also will require Leesburg to extend its own sewer line to make the connection.
The project also will decrease penalties Warsaw faces from a 2002 investigation by the Environmental Protection Agency and IDEM, which discovered hazardous discharges were being made into Walnut Creek.
The Warsaw wastewater treatment plant had been hit with a number of violations resulting from a sewage spill into Walnut Creek in 2002, according to Mayor Ernie Wiggins.
Sludge and untreated or partially treated wastewater- quantities of surficant, polymer, whole effluent and diesel fuel left a deposit of sludge in the stream bed, extending to the Tippecanoe River.
According to the agreement, sewer service will be extended north toward Leesburg and make that sewer service available for use by Leesburg at a location agreed upon by the state.
The agreement states Leesburg is currently an unsewered community with failing septic systems, unpermitted discharges of untreated sewage, and water quality problems, and is under a separate order from IDEM to install sewers and provide for proper disposal of sanitary wastewater from the town.
The agreement states the respondent is assessed a civil penalty of $230,700. Within 30 days of the effective date, the respondent should pay a portion of the penalty (representing 20 percent of the total) in the amount of $46,140.
In lieu of payment of the remaining 80 percent of the civil penalty representing $184,560, Warsaw shall perform and complete two supplemental environmental projects.
Wiggins said Warsaw's portion of the sewer line should be completed by next fall.
