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Antioch
chemical spill probed
Chicago Tribune
- 2/26
The
Village of Antioch and a trucking company could face legal repercussions
over a chemical spill last week that killed fish in a nearby creek,
state environmental officials said Tuesday.
The
state attorney general's office is trying to determine who is
responsible for dumping three times the normal amount of a chemical
into a treatment tank, causing it to overflow into Sequiot Creek.
A mile stretch of the creek had to be cleaned up after 25 fish
were found dead.
"We
would like a court-enforceable agreement that ensures this will
never happen again," said Joan Muraro, a spokeswoman in the
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency's water division. The
agreement could include supervised handling and delivery of hazardous
materials at the plant, she said.
EPA
officials have not decided whether to seek financial damages,
Muraro said.
The
spill happened Feb. 19, when a trucking company delivered ferric
chloride to the village's treatment plant, said Lee Shannon, Antioch's
emergency management coordinator. The chemical is used to coagulate
solids so that they can be removed from wastewater.
The
plant was supposed to receive 1,110 gallons, Shannon said, but
three times that amount was emptied into the holding tank, causing
about 2,000 gallons to spill.
The
ferric chloride passed through floor drains and flowed into water
passing through the plant. Officials said last week that they
did not consider it a danger at first.
Later,
a reddish tint was noticed on the water, and six green sunfish,
seven carp and 12 yellow bullheads were found dead, said Carol
Knowles, spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.
Officials
contained the spill Feb. 19 under a bridge just west of Illinois
Highway 173 and Tiffany Road.
After
meeting with state officials Tuesday, Antioch Village Atty. Robert
Long said the wastewater plant will install overflow-protection
devices on the tank.
"We
don't want to see this happen again," Long said.
A
representative for JVH Trucking, a Plainfield-based hazardous-materials
transportation company, declined to comment on the spill or the
investigation.
There
was never a threat to drinking water, and soil is being tested
to determine if further cleanup is necessary, Shannon said.
EPA
officials are monitoring cleanup efforts, which appear successful,
Muraro said.
No
additional dead fish have been reported, Knowles said.
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