Wastewater facility spills more than 1 million gallons into Lamoille

According to Hardwick Town Manager and Deputy Health Officer Jon Jewett, the leak was caused by a liner failure in the secondary lagoon at the municipal facility. The wastewater in the secondary lagoon was treated but not disinfected, Jewett said. He said every gallon of water that escaped had already been in the lagoon for nearly a month.

“It’s been tertiarily treated,” Jewett said. “The only thing it didn’t have was the coliform reduction.”

The leak began Thursday afternoon and continued for roughly 20 hours, discharging about 1,081,000 gallons of water into the Lamoille River, Jewett said in an email sent out at 12:32 p.m. Friday. By then, the leak was essentially over, “but we wanted any downstream users to be aware of the problem,” he said.

Jewett said he doubts too many people are thinking about swimming at this time of year, but towns downstream might put up signs warning swimmers to stay out of the water for 24 hours. One million gallons of water in the Lamoille River is a drop in a bucket, Jewett said, but there is a chance that, without being disinfected, the water could contain coliform bacteria, such as E. coli.

Hardwick’s wastewater plant consists of two lagoons roughly eight feet deep and each containing 3 million gallons. The liner that ruptured around 4 p.m. Thursday was originally installed in the 1970s. Jewett estimated it would cost about $25,000 to replace the liner with a more modern one that could last several decades. However, the price tag could skyrocket if the state calls for total replacement.

For a full story, pick up the Stowe Reporter on Thursday, May 22.

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