Tilapia growers in Groton are coming under the scrutiny of the Owasco Lake Watershed Association as OWLA increases efforts to preserve Owasco Lake's water quality.
“The DEC (Department of Environmental Conservation) has a direct responsibility to apply due diligence to Groton fish farm practices,” said Al Kozlowski, past OWLA president, in a press release. “They need to apply current EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) Aquaculture Effluent guidelines by including in the permit process a full disclosure listing all phosphates, solids, hormones and tank cleaning agents from the fish farm in Groton and their potential effect on our drinking water since 1998 and in the future.”
The DEC's most recent draft permit requires the Groton Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) to lower its phosphorus emissions to two pounds per day by 2012, with deadlines in between for re-engineering the plant and beginning phosphorus reduction.
“The treatment plant didn't have the capacity to treat the fish farm,” Kozlowski said. “It processed the fish farm effluent at the Groton treatment plant and sent the excess into the inlet. We (OWLA) still might sue the DEC as a government agency that's not doing all they can to preserve the watershed.”
To get community response to this draft, OWLA wants those who drink water from Owasco Lake to write to the DEC during the public comment period, which ends Friday.
The fish farm, Fingerlakes Aquaculture Inc., is the largest industrial generator of wastewater to the village of Groton's system, according to C.T. Male Associates PC engineers' 2007 design report. In the early years of the industry, the average daily water consumption for the village was 110,000 to 140,000 gallons per day. The fish farm now buys about 80,000 GPD and discharges about one third of the total wastewater generated by the village.
Samples of the fish farm's wastewater collected between Aug. 7 and Oct. 1, 2006, showed average effluent phosphorous concentrations at 8.3 mg/L, with 6.2 mg/L for the WWTP influent. As typical influent phosphorus concentrations are between 3 and 5 mg/L, the fish farm's wastewater increased the treatment plant's concentrations of total phosphorus to above normal influent ranges.
“Phosphorus is found in feed for fish,” said Jessica Miles, Owasco Lake Watershed Inspector. “The fish digest it and release it in their feces.”
The fish farm began operation in October 1999, discharging wastewater to Groton's WWTP, gradually increasing water use to 120,000 gallons per day. By 2004, the WWTP was violating flow of their permit.
The village signed an agreement with the DEC in 2006 to upgrade its plant and treat increased flow and higher organic loads, but without a phosphorus limit.
Public reaction led the DEC to require a phosphorus removal pilot study, including addition of iron-based salt to remove phosphorus from the wastewater. The DEC believed it appropriate to require continued phosphorus reduction in effluent concentrations.
Since then, the DEC issued a draft permit setting specific deadlines for the Groton plant to follow: engineering plans and specs by Dec. 30, 2008; interim daily phosphorus limit of 1.0 mg/l (four pounds) for a period of 14 months when upgrades are fully operational; after that, a daily limit of .75 mg/l (three pounds) for 26 months allowing optimization of industrial pretreatment requirements; and then the limit lowered to .5 mg/l (two pounds per day).
“It's my understanding that there is a connection between the waste from the fish farm and the phosphorus content in the wastewater, ” said Eileen O'Connor, Cayuga County's director of environmental health.
She referred to the DEC 's permit fact sheet of June 27.
The company touts itself as eco-friendly, as its Web site says: “Our technology allows us to produce large volumes of delicious fish with almost no impact on the outside environment. Our indoor technology is eco-friendly.”
“This is all government financed in the first place,” Kozlowski said of the fish farm. “The Industrial Development Association sponsored it. You've got the wolf watching the hen house down there. The DEC has culpability.”
Staff writer Kathleen Barran can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 238 or kathleen.barran@lee.net
The DEC's most recent draft permit requires the Groton Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) to lower its phosphorus emissions to two pounds per day by 2012, with deadlines in between for re-engineering the plant and beginning phosphorus reduction.
“The treatment plant didn't have the capacity to treat the fish farm,” Kozlowski said. “It processed the fish farm effluent at the Groton treatment plant and sent the excess into the inlet. We (OWLA) still might sue the DEC as a government agency that's not doing all they can to preserve the watershed.”
To get community response to this draft, OWLA wants those who drink water from Owasco Lake to write to the DEC during the public comment period, which ends Friday.
The fish farm, Fingerlakes Aquaculture Inc., is the largest industrial generator of wastewater to the village of Groton's system, according to C.T. Male Associates PC engineers' 2007 design report. In the early years of the industry, the average daily water consumption for the village was 110,000 to 140,000 gallons per day. The fish farm now buys about 80,000 GPD and discharges about one third of the total wastewater generated by the village.
Samples of the fish farm's wastewater collected between Aug. 7 and Oct. 1, 2006, showed average effluent phosphorous concentrations at 8.3 mg/L, with 6.2 mg/L for the WWTP influent. As typical influent phosphorus concentrations are between 3 and 5 mg/L, the fish farm's wastewater increased the treatment plant's concentrations of total phosphorus to above normal influent ranges.
“Phosphorus is found in feed for fish,” said Jessica Miles, Owasco Lake Watershed Inspector. “The fish digest it and release it in their feces.”
The fish farm began operation in October 1999, discharging wastewater to Groton's WWTP, gradually increasing water use to 120,000 gallons per day. By 2004, the WWTP was violating flow of their permit.
The village signed an agreement with the DEC in 2006 to upgrade its plant and treat increased flow and higher organic loads, but without a phosphorus limit.
Public reaction led the DEC to require a phosphorus removal pilot study, including addition of iron-based salt to remove phosphorus from the wastewater. The DEC believed it appropriate to require continued phosphorus reduction in effluent concentrations.
Since then, the DEC issued a draft permit setting specific deadlines for the Groton plant to follow: engineering plans and specs by Dec. 30, 2008; interim daily phosphorus limit of 1.0 mg/l (four pounds) for a period of 14 months when upgrades are fully operational; after that, a daily limit of .75 mg/l (three pounds) for 26 months allowing optimization of industrial pretreatment requirements; and then the limit lowered to .5 mg/l (two pounds per day).
“It's my understanding that there is a connection between the waste from the fish farm and the phosphorus content in the wastewater, ” said Eileen O'Connor, Cayuga County's director of environmental health.
She referred to the DEC 's permit fact sheet of June 27.
The company touts itself as eco-friendly, as its Web site says: “Our technology allows us to produce large volumes of delicious fish with almost no impact on the outside environment. Our indoor technology is eco-friendly.”
“This is all government financed in the first place,” Kozlowski said of the fish farm. “The Industrial Development Association sponsored it. You've got the wolf watching the hen house down there. The DEC has culpability.”
Staff writer Kathleen Barran can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 238 or kathleen.barran@lee.net
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weedsport civilian wrote on Aug 6, 2008 6:36 AM:
maybe you are one of those stereotypical "hilltop hillbillies" without a clue in your area.
but if it's a proven fact that after this business came into effect, the phosphorous levels skyrocketed, then what else is there? maybe the people of Groton eating too much of the said fish and pooping it out themselves?
get real....the studies have been done for several years now, and the paper trail shows the rise of dangerous effluent levels very much in conjunction with the expansion of this particular business.
want to protect your area? do more to help than hinder I would think. wanting to sweep it under the rug only hinders what we hand to the future. the inlet and the lake are both great places of recreation threatened by a fish farm of all irony.
come down off your hill and get some education on the matter. it's all written down and for public review. "
dan w wrote on Aug 6, 2008 5:22 AM:
sanhat292 wrote on Aug 5, 2008 8:20 PM:
hilltop wrote on Aug 5, 2008 7:07 PM: