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Angola officials report progress on wastewater chloride issue; IDEM selected city’s comment for review
Summary
Council members said the city’s chloride working group submitted comments requested under an executive review and that IDEM chose the city’s submission among a small set for further consideration.
Angola Common Council members on July 21 reported progress in efforts to address a wastewater chloride issue that the city says could be costly to remediate.
A council speaker summarized recent outreach to Indianapolis, saying the chloride working group asked for guidance from state officials and met with State Senator Glick. The council said it drafted and mailed a letter to the governor and to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM); a digital copy was hand-delivered to the governor’s office by the northeast Indiana representative.
The speaker said Governor Holcomb’s executive review of “overburdensome regulation” prompted IDEM to solicit comments from users. The city submitted comments through IDEM’s website; the speaker said about 1,000 comments were submitted statewide and IDEM selected 25 items for additional review — Angola’s submission was among the 25. The council called that selection “a very good sign” and said the city will reconvene the chloride working group to plan next steps.
Council discussion included an acknowledgement that the city’s wastewater permit has lapsed by choice. The speaker said the city chose not to renew its permit because of language and requirements in the renewal application, and that the city is currently operating under its previous permit. The transcript records the speaker saying the city has not received notices of fines and that IDEM communications to the mayor and council have been “informational versus punitive.”
The council estimated potential capital costs to address the chloride issue could be substantial; the speaker said the working estimate for a long-term fix was on the order of $10 million to $20 million. Council members said they would follow up with contacts in Indianapolis and reconvene the working group to develop next steps.
