RAINIER — The Oregon environmental quality department has hit the city of Rainier with a $31,550 penalty for allegedly dumping 20,000 gallons of raw sewage into Fox Creek as well as violating state water quality standards.
The Rainier wastewater treatment plant in January dumped six times the legal limit of E. coli bacteria into nearby waterways and discharged 20,000 gallons of untreated, raw sewage into Fox Creek, according to the violation letter sent to the city by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality.
Rainier Mayor Jerry Cole said city staff are working to repair the treatment plant and meet state standards so they can avoid the fines. The city has been fined three times over six years for similar water quality violations, according to the department’s letter.
“We are doing our best to get in compliance. … We take it seriously,” Cole said in an interview Thursday.
Rainier officials told the department the 20,000 gallons discharged into Fox Creek was caused by a garbage bag that was illegally placed in the line by a third party, according to the violation letter.
Discharged water that is untreated or exceeds limitations on certain chemicals can pose an environmental issue for the Columbia River and its tributaries, said Dylan Darling, public affairs specialist of Department of Environmental Quality.
“They monitor it, and then they turn it in, and we evaluate it,” Darling said. “If it’s not matching the limits, then that becomes a violation.”
The permit limit on E. coli bacteria set by the state is 406 organisms per 100 milliliters from a single sample; in December, Rainier’s water sample showed 2,420 organisms per 100 milliliters, according to the department. E. coli, at high enough levels, can make recreational waters unhealthy for swimming, drinking or fishing, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
In a letter to then-Public Works Director Sue Lawrence, the department said the city also went over its limits for total suspended solids and biochemical oxygen demand between December and June.
Total suspended solids refer to how clear the water is when looking at the surface, while biochemical oxygen demand refers to how much aerobic bacteria is growing on organic matter in the water, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The letter states the city, on two occasions in January, discharged untreated sewage into the “waters of the state.” The plant has had more than 100 violations at its treatment plant over six years, the letter states. Rainier was last fined $7,000 in 2021 by the Department of Environmental Quality.
The fine comes as the city is undergoing an attempt to repair its wastewater treatment facility. Earlier this month, the Rainier City Council hired West Yost for about $213,000 to study and design the repairs.
Part of the wastewater treatment plant’s discharging system stem from drainage issues, Cole said. He added the drinking water is clean, and the issue is that the water going back into the river system does not yet meet Oregon’s environmental regulations.
While a July inspection of the plant did not show any violations, the department said, “a lack of regular maintenance and housekeeping was apparent throughout the facility.”
Cole said Rainier works with the Department of Environmental Quality to funnel the money they would usually use to pay the fine to instead help pay for projects that would put them in compliance. These projects have to be submitted to and then approved by water quality experts at the state level, Darling said.
The department handed down $218,576 total in fines to 19 entities accused of either discharging untreated sewage into the Columbia River, polluting a creek or submitting inaccurate greenhouse gas emissions data, the department said Thursday in a news release. Stimson Lumber Company, a private timberland company, in Clatskanie was also fined $5,200 for wastewater violations.
