Duncombe, Iowa-State environmental inspectors report the worst is under control, but they’re not certain if it will take a few days or another week to get wastewaters down to safe levels from Koch Nitrogen, which was the scene of an ammonia leak April 15. “We’re continuing to get data showing the levels are coming down,” State Department of Natural Resources Environmental Specialist Trent Lambert told Green Markets. “We’re headed in the right direction.” Koch officials refused to disclose any information about production interruptions from the release, confirming only that operations had resumed at the plant. Lambert, however, reported that to his knowledge the plant is not yet back in full production. “Rather,” he added, “they continue to operate in what they call water conservation mode. This means they are operating the affected equipment at a low production level to introduce as little new wastewater into the system as possible. So, essentially, the UAN plant has not been in full production since the afternoon of April 15, and is not currently in full production.” Lambert gives Koch crews full credit for their heads-up response after a gasket in the reactor developed a hole and allowed the release of thousands of pounds of ammonia. He said the workers evacuated and bled the system from the control room. When it was safe to re-enter, the workers found that the leak was not as extensive as first thought, but instead of a gas it was liquid. “But it wasn’t 18,000 pounds as originally reported in the press,” Lambert stressed. “Still, the ammonia concentration was too high to be discharged in the river. So we had them shut down their pumps, and Koch has been running tanker trucks around the clock to the Fort Dodge treatment plant. Nothing has been discharged for over a week.” Theresa Johnson, spokeswoman for parent company Koch Industries Inc., said of an estimated 6,825 pounds of anhydrous ammonia that were released, two-thirds evaporated, and only about 15 pounds got into the Des Moines River. Lambert said a combination of trucking, putting to use storage capacity in a 600-gallon on-scene tank, and re-circulating water between ponds to break down the ammonia was getting the job done. “We’ve sampled every truckload at key points in the plant on an hourly basis to see how much was removed and how far we had to go,” he added. “No discharge into the river will be allowed until the wastewater is down to permitted levels. If we get a few sunny, windy days it will help in breaking down the ammonia.” Lambert calculated that if a high level had been discharged into the river there would have been an immediate acute loss of river life and potentially an impact on water supplies in Des Moines, 60 miles away. He said no injuries were reported from the ammonia incident and Koch employees “exercised a very high amount of work and effort to keep a handle on the situation.”
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