08-22-2003SOUTH BEND – State inspectors testified Thursday that degraded conditions observed inside the Warsaw Wastewater Treatment Plant and in a nearby stream were not within permitted pollutant discharge levels.
The testimony came on the third day of the trial of David Van Dyke, the former treatment plant operator who is charged with multiple Clean Water Act violations in a 37-count federal indictment.
He is accused of filing false reports to hide the illegal discharge of tons of solids and sludge and large quantities of diesel fuel in Walnut Creek.
The trial will resume Monday.
In response to a resident’s complaint last year, the Indiana Department of Environmental Management sent a team of water quality specialists to inspect the creek, which receives the plant’s discharges.
During the trial, IDEM water quality surveyor Stephen Boswell said the creek was murky, cloudy and smelled of methane gas downstream from the plant. The plant was identified as the source of the smell and no fish were seen in the creek.
Boswell said it looked like an extreme amount of activated sludge was in the stream.
Sewage fungus accumulated in the creek as a result of the inadequately treated sewage, Boswell told the court.
Bubbles in the creek likely came from sediments releasing methane gas, he said. More than 22,000 cubic yards of sludge were estimated to have been deposited in the creek.
Clumps of floating algae also were seen in the Tippecanoe River that likely were formed by nutrient loading from Walnut Creek, which joins the river.
Boswell said the creek’s polluted condition was one of the worst he had seen since in 30 years.
During cross-examination, he said there are houses, wetland, forest and at least one industry adjoining Walnut Creek, and none should be discharging into the creek.
IDEM water compliance investigator Eddy Depositar testified Van Dyke reported no discharge permit violations before the creek inspection.
Depositar and other witnesses described the plant as in a deteriorated state with storage tanks full of solids and sludge, which are normally hauled away and applied to farm fields.
A plant electrician accused Van Dyke of instructing employees to pour diesel fuel into raw sewage to counteract the foamy surface substance because the foam may attract attention floating down the creek.
If convicted of all charges, Van Dyke could face more than 70 years in prison.