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Sandpoint hears DEQ audit after February SCADA upset; council briefed on replacement plan and financing options
Summary
Holly Ellis, Sandpoint public works director, told the City Council on May 21 that a SCADA electrical glitch in February briefly shut off breezeway pumps at the city’s wastewater treatment plant and allowed “3 to 500 gallons of partially treated effluent” to reach the Pend Oreille River before operators stopped the discharge.
Holly Ellis, Sandpoint public works director, told the City Council on May 21 that a SCADA electrical glitch in February briefly shut off breezeway pumps at the city’s wastewater treatment plant and allowed “3 to 500 gallons of partially treated effluent” to reach the Pend Oreille River before operators restored systems and stopped further discharge.
Ellis said the city notified the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality and followed DEQ reporting protocols. “On April 28, DEQ sent a letter confirming that we are in compliance with our permit,” she said during the council meeting.
Why it matters: Ellis and council members framed the incident as evidence of the treatment plant’s aged infrastructure and constraints on capacity. The plant’s nominal capacity is about 5 million gallons per day (mgd) and typical daily flow about 2 mgd, Ellis said, but…
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