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Residents and officials report USDA tour, county says Pasco plant ponds cleaned
Summary
Public commenters and county staff reported a USDA visit to multiple water treatment sites and said a large pond at the Pasco water treatment facility has been cleaned; residents raised boil-water concerns at Colotes/Colotus.
During public comment at the July 2 Franklin County commissioners meeting, speakers reported a recent visit by a U.S. Department of Agriculture delegation and said county and federal officials toured multiple local water-treatment sites, including a Pasco facility where a large pond had previously caused odor complaints.
An unnamed public commenter told the board the USDA representatives ‘‘got a really good review of everything’’ during the tour and said officials understood that a boil-water condition elevated the sites’ priority for assistance. The commenter asked whether a measure that had been submitted to the regional council of governments concerning water for Benton and Franklin counties had been acted on and requested follow-up.
Later in the public-comment period, another commenter said they had toured sites with Kirk Pearson from USDA World Development and reported that ‘‘that large pond that was creating some of the air quality issues … is completely clean.’’ The speaker said that future inflows to the pond would be limited to processed water during the winter and that the odor issue at that pond "should be going away." The commenter added that if odor complaints continue they would likely originate from a different source.
County Administrator Mister Danzel and the board thanked the USDA representative for visiting and said Mr. Pearson plans another trip with county staff to bring additional resources. No formal board action was taken during the public-comment discussion; the remarks were informational and commissioners did not direct immediate follow-up in the meeting record.
The transcript identifies affected communities visited during the USDA tour as Mesa, Basin City, Connell, and Colotes (also transcribed as “Cay Lotus” in one place), and notes that some locations experienced boil-water advisories. The record does not provide technical water-quality measurements, specific agency commitments or timelines for corrective work beyond the visit and planned follow-up.
