The county announced that around 47,000 gallons of wastewater containing bacteria, viruses and other disease-causing agents was released into Irwin Creek over the weekend. An equipment malfunction at the Irwin Creek sewage plant resulted in the wastewater not going through ultraviolet disinfection for seven minutes. The Observer is reporting that this event means the water flowing into the creek was “partially disinfected,” but — correct me if I’m wrong here — if the UV disinfecting process didn’t work for seven minutes, then that means the water released during those seven minutes wasn’t disinfected, period. OK, I know it’s tricky writing news stories quickly, particularly during the holidays when many reporters’ colleagues are on vacation and things get super-rushed, but come on. There’s a huge difference between “partially disinfected” water (which is bad enough), and, in essence, “infected” water that could cause real health problems. Hopefully, writer Bruce Henderson will soon report on what effects the snafu could have on public health, and what the county plans to do to keep the UV disinfection from shutting down again.
This article appears in Dec 15-21, 2009.
