October 24, 2017
By Kate Thurston
“Rushville Utilities has invested 7.3 million dollars in the City Wastewater Treatment plant in the last four years to get in compliance with Federal Mandates,” Utilities Director Les Day said. “These improvements to the Cities Treatment Plant will eliminate upwards of 50 million gallons of untreated wastewater from entering Flat Rock River annually. The Rushville Wastewater Treatment Plant is discharging the best quality of water into the Flatrock then anytime in prior years.”
The City of Rushville Utilities has hit a milestone in getting the utilities out from underneath an agreed order complaint filed in 2007 by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) and the EPA.
“This complaint filed 2008 against the Rushville City Utilities by IDEM and the EPA, was due to Rushville’s Wastewater Treatment Plant on at least 10 times annually bypassed upwards of 50 million gallons of untreated wastewater, which would end up into Flat Rock River, this is considered a violation of the clean water act. Rushville is one of over 120 in Indiana alone faced with this same issue,” Day explained. “The main cause of these bypasses is during heavy rain events, the sanitary sewer system takes in excessive amounts of water that filters into underground piping that is deteriorated or has direct connections from storm drains. This combination of rain/wastewater ends up at the wastewater treatment plant which was only designed to take in sanitary sewer only, not the combination of rain water and wastewater.”...
