COMBINED LOCKS, Wisconsin (From news reports) -- Materials from the McKinley Paper mill in Combined Locks have been spilling into the Fox River for over two weeks.
"It does look bad. It does look kind of like scum, floating scum -- light brownish in color. It's very obvious that it's not natural and not supposed to be there," says Heidi Schmitt Marquez, a wastewater field supervisor for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
Discharging treated wastewater into local waterways is normal and legal for facilities like McKinley, and it's monitored and regulated through permits to ensure ecological safety.
It's monitored by people like Schmitt Marquez.
"Even if it's not something that's toxic to your health -- something like solids or sediment or too much phosphorus that can lead to algae blooms -- all of those things are not good for waterways and that's why we limit them in the discharge permits."
But the discharge from McKinley now is out of the ordinary, she says.
"Some material, potentially, in their discharge, may or may not be combining with things that are in the river. The investigation is ongoing, so we don't know for sure what it is, but as the discharge is coming out of their outfall pipe in the river, solid material is floating up, gathering and accumulating at the top of the river surface and then forming these concentrated mats almost of floating solids that are moving down the river," Schmitt Marquez explains.
A public statement from the company released Wednesday says the issue is being caused by low water levels on the Fox River. The company's full statement reads:
McKinley Paper is aware and taking action to address conditions observed in the Fox River. Based on our review to date, the condition is caused by historically low river levels, which are allowing organic material to float to the surface. The material is an organic by-product of the wastewater treatment system and is not hazardous or harmful. The mill has been in regular communication with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) since January 27, when the conditions were first observed. The mill appreciates the community's understanding and patience as we respond to this matter. As part of the community, the McKinley team is dedicated to protecting the environment and local water resources.
"We, the DNR, as the regulatory agency, need more substantive evidence before we can accept that as the official cause," Schmitt Marquez says in response, but adds that low water levels could be a contributing factor.
She says the DNR took samples of the material Thursday in hopes of determining the root cause of the issue.
"That's primarily what we're looking for. Is there too much phosphorus? Is the nitrogen out of whack? Are there too many dissolved solids to try to figure out if something in their wastewater treatment is not working that they didn't notice?" she says.
We plan on analyzing those to figure out what's in those samples and compare those to the microbiology the facility has already collected and then compare that with their permit and perhaps some historical data.
Schmitt Marquez assures the community the material coming from McKinley is not hazardous or toxic, but recognizes why community members who see the sludge-like material may be concerned.
Cleanup efforts are underway and working, but it's still early.
"We're still on step one of trying to stop the discharge, because we don't exactly know where the solids are coming from."
Schmitt Marquez is asking for patience from the community throughout the process and says McKinley Paper is cooperating.
"It takes a while between sample collecting, operation and maintenance reviews, going through the production side, the wastewater treatment side, making sure everything is operating as expected and as planned before we can try to figure out causes," she says.
No citation has been issued or considered as of yet, but Schmitt Marquez says it could be a possibility once the cause is determined, samples are analyzed and the investigation is complete.
