Carpet Cleaner gets the shaft

[One Tough Pressure]

Reynoldsburg carpet cleaner must tell others of pollution crime

Thursday, December 22, 2005
By TRICIA SYMANSIC
ThisWeek Staff Writer
A Reynoldsburg man who dumped carpet-cleaning wastewater into a retaining pond that eventually empties into the Olentangy River must now explain to his competition the consequences of water pollution and how to properly dispose of hazardous waste.
Abdoulaye Nidiaye, president of Classic Janitorial Service of Columbus, pleaded guilty to a water pollution charge last week in Franklin County Environmental Court. He was caught by Worthington police Sgt. Mark Marshall dumping wastewater into a retaining pond that empties into Rush Creek, which leads to the Olentangy River.
As part of his sentence, Nidiaye was required to send a court-approved letter to all carpet-cleaning businesses in Franklin County explaining the legal ramifications of pollution, which, for Nidiaye, include a 365-day suspended jail sentence, 40 hours of community service and nearly $2,200 in fines and court costs.
Franklin County Environmental Court Judge Harland Hale said he has sentenced others for similar crimes but more carpet-cleaning businesses are likely to be polluting waterways, either because of ignorance or disregard for the consequences of water pollution. He said he has used letter-writing campaigns in the past.
"We have done that before on a rare occasion where it appears to be productive," he said. "The purpose is not to punish the guy who did it but to be informative."
Carpet-cleaning wastewater is considered "process wastewater," and it is illegal to dump it into storm sewers, waterways or the surface of the ground. It must be taken to a wastewater treatment plant or directed into a sanitary sewer via a sink or toilet, according to Nidiaye's letter.
"When you dump chemicals into a river, even that big of a river, the river will recover," Hale said. "But it can do damage for decades, just one spill like that."
The fines include $1,000 restitution to the Friends of the Lower Olentangy Watershed (FLOW) and $1,000 to the Franklin County General Health fund. Nidiaye must also volunteer 40 hours with the Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio Litter Crew.
Hale said he earmarked money for the nonprofit group FLOW because the group does well in its efforts to keep the watershed clean and educate the public about its importance.
"I volunteered planting trees with them last year," Hale said. "They do a good job."
Kathy Remias, FLOW watershed coordinator, said her group would use the money for a river cleanup event or an educational campaign in the Worthington area. The group, which has 200 members and 500 people on its mailing list, wants people to pay attention to ravines and waterways around them and report problems to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency or the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, she said.
Remias also was pleased with the letter-writing campaign.
"I think that was an effective form of restitution because this is something that happens a lot all over our city and all over the country," she said. "I think a lot of times, people just aren't aware of the issues."
Franklin County Prosecuting Attorney Heather Robinson commended Marshall and Worthington Police officer Dave Fox for acting on the crime and alerting the county's environmental crimes unit quickly.
FLOW and other environmental organizations have tried marking storm sewers in some areas with signs explaining that the sewers do not lead to treatment plants. All water that enters a storm sewer eventually makes its way to a river, Hale said.
"I just think that people need to realize that this is where we live," he said. "There's a proper way to dispose of a McDonald's cup and a proper way to dispose of hazardous chemicals."

[CCPC]

Interesting. I used to live an an apartment a couple of years ago, and there was a carpet cleaning contractor who lived in an apartment in the building nest to mine. Well, every evening when he was coming in after working, he would stop at the storm drain right in front of the buildings and empty his waste water right down the storm drain. I wasn't in the pressure washing business at that time, but I still new that what he was doing couldn't be right. I never did anything about it at the time, but after getting into this business, it stands out in my head. I know he still lives their, and I'm pretty sure he is still doing the same thing, but I wont be the one to turn him in. In all reality, if I called the athorities in this area they'd probably say "so what's wrong with that". There is absolutely no enforcement in this area. The fact that a carpet cleaner can dump his waste water right down the storm drain (which by the way takes him a good five minutes) right in the middle of a busy apartment complex. Some enforcement is good, but states like California, in my opinion, go way over board.

[PLD]

<Author steps onto his soapbox>

And now we know why I will never live in Calif, Mass, or any of the other hyper-conscious states...

This weekend I bought an item that had a large red sticker warning all residents of California that it contained lead and that you must wash your hands after handling this device. I almost returned it fearing great bodily harm, but after a extensive research I was unable to find ANYONE who had become ill from router poisoning... I have, however, warned my children that they must not eat the unit.

Anyone care to guesstimate how many gallons of oil are placed into the stormwater system each day from rainwater flowing off asphalt streets, parking lots, roofs, etc. Don't see anyone breathing down the neck of the DOT and all homebuilders to eliminate the use of asphalt products.

Until we stop tilting at windmills and get serious about pollution, don't bother picketing my jobsite for dumping 200gm of silt into the storm drains...

<Author steps off his soapbox>

[RyanH]

<Author plays devils advocate to the water authorities>

My guess is that when water treatment facilities size the equipment to treat the water, they take into account the amount of pollution that will be generated from road washoff and other similar situations. I'm guessing that several relations are used, some of which would take road traffic, road size, slope, number of drains, adjacent lots, and other factors into consideration. They won't be exact, but the heuristics would allow them to properly size the equipment (much the same way a PW contractor will estimate the time involved and chemicals required to clean a property given a few key measured dimensions). The one thing you can not adequatly prepare for is human stupidity and mans capacity for regulation disobedience. One may argue that this should be considered in sizing equipment (and indeed factors of safety are used for "unforseen" instances), but gross oversizing would result in unecessary cost. And since it's usually my tax dollars that go towards ugprading and maintaining equipment, I'd prefer them to not but unecessarily large equipment because someone else doesn't want to follow proper procedures to handle their waste.

Another thing....water treatment will assume they have to treat various petroleum-based pollutions (fuel, soot, oil, etc.) and dirt and silt and common pesticides, but they don't test for everything. Imagine some of the creative chemicals people may come up with to use for cleaning and the possibility of things that were never intended nor conceived of entering into a system that is not designed to treat it.

May be a little overly cautious, though.

<author removes devils advocate clothing and resumes enjoying a bowl of Mayfield and Baileys.>

[Mike Williamson]

Originally Posted by RyanH

My guess is that when water treatment facilities size the equipment to treat the water, they take into account the amount of pollution that will be generated from road washoff and other similar situations.

I tend to agree with Philip...

I would imagine that the amount of oil/dirt generated by a few pressurewashers is miniscule compared to what runs off the roadways both from the asphalt and from leaking cars every time it rains...I seriously doubt if it's going to overtax the water treatment plants...

And did you really say "heuristics"???

[PLD]

Ryan,

You are entirely correct. My points are this:

1. There are thousands of serious polution sources that will never be pursued because that are either impossible to prosecute (i.e. 1mg * 4million people) or regulate would have too large of a socio-economic impact (i.e. fossil fuels/automobiles are here to stay).

2. Most of the heavily enforced issues have relatively miniscule impact on the environment by they are pursued because they are easy to spot and easy to enforce.



I'll get serious about controlling process water when the EPA stops the city of Atlanta from dumping 100,000 gallons/day of raw sewage into the Chattahoochee (drinking water for Ga, Al, Fla). Oh, and did I mention that the city pays the same per-occurence fine for 100,000 gals/day into a river as I could be fined for 10 gal of process water into a storm drain?