Q River Pollution Mystery Solved

Crews working the dashing Rock & Roll and other small boats from the several fleets that berth along Quinnipiac River in Fair Haven will not have to worry about a discharge upriver near Wallingford.

The mystery about what was in an effluent, or discharge, from a pipe up at Toelles Road, near the North Haven Wallingford border, has been solved.

Click here for the background in an article about how students in Quinnipiac University environmental science class had been monitoring the rivers in a project funded by the Greater New Haven Community Foundation’s Quinnipiac River Fund when they came upon the worrisome-seeming discharge.

Testing for pthalates, chemicals used to soften plastics, and other polluting substances, the students found a ​“hot” pipe back — an effluent whose temperature indicated it might be running our of a nearby plant or factory.

The discharge and the temperature were new. So the students, under the direction of Prof. Harry Pylypiw, went back to double-check, once taking this reporter with them.

They reported to the foundation, which funded the project. The foundation in turn alerted the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

DEEP inspectors investigated the pipe and its owner, the nearby Nucor Steel Connecticut on Toelles Road. They confirmed that the release was grease and oil products, some of which is allowed according to the department’s permitting rules.

In this instance, the leak was in excess, the incident was not properly reported, and DEEP issued an NOV, or notice of violation.

As a result repairs, which had resulted in the leak, have been made and ​“conditions on the Q River appear normal, and we are not aware of any ongoing violations of limits on discharge permits or any other issues that would pose a threat to human health or to the environment or to aquatic life or vegetation,” according to DEEP.

DEEP Communications Director Dennis Schain provided the following blow-by-blow account,:

Bottom line is this:

Nucor, which has a permit for discharges to the Q River, had an issue around the time QU folks were taking samples. We believe that was most likely what was showing in the QU samples. The Nucor discharge issue was something in violation of their permit limits. In a review of their records this summer we spotted this issue and had issued them a Notice of Violation (NOV) and ordered corrective action.

Basically, their monitoring report showed us that they had high levels of both oil and grease and biological oxygen demand in their discharge on May 19, 2015. The concentrations of these materials exceeded the limit of Nucor’s permit. Nucor determined the cause was a mechanical seal leak in the finish mill. The malfunction allowed the release of lubricating oil. Our inspection report of August 2015 noted this incident and resulted in an NOV to them for improperly reporting the incident. When Nucor had discovered the violation they had shut down their discharge until the leak was repaired.

Our visit to the area last month showed the only pipe in the vicinity was Nucor Steel’s permitted discharge pipe where this release occurred.
Conditions on the Q River appear normal, we are not aware of any ongoing violations of limits on discharge permits or any other issues that would pose a threat to human health or the environment or to aquatic life or vegetation.