LUCKEY, Ohio — Dustin Tyson lives on a 20-acre farm in Luckey, a plot of land that includes a stretch of the Toussaint Creek in his backyard.
He says that water is usually clear, until recently.
"The water level raised a little bit a week ago today and turned green," Tyson said.
The Toussaint Creek stretches 40 miles long and connects to the Toussaint River, which then feeds into Lake Erie in Ottawa County, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
WTOL 11 visited Tyson's property on Sept. 10. Upon inspection, one of the main sections of the creek in Tyson's yard looked like this:
Just down the road at a bridge under the Fremont Pike near U.S. 20 and U.S. 23, on the same day, the green tint appeared darker.
So, what is causing this?
The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency provided WTOL 11 with the following statement:
"On Thursday, Sept. 5, Ohio EPA was notified of a portion of Toussaint Creek that appeared green.
Ohio EPA’s Office of Emergency Response investigated and determined the green water was an unauthorized discharge of treated sewage from a wastewater lagoon operated by Northwestern Water and Sewer. Our on-scene coordinator informed the facility and instructed it to turn off a valve to the lagoon, which stopped the discharge the same day.
As of Wednesday afternoon (9/11/24), Ohio EPA is not aware of any impacts to wildlife.
We continue to investigate the discharge and we are working with the facility to help ensure this doesn’t happen again."
To summarize, the EPA received notice of the problem a week ago and launched an investigation, which found a case of unauthorized discharge of treated sewage from a wastewater lagoon by Northwestern Water and Sewer District.
According to Northwestern's public information officer Theresa Pollick, the lagoon is located just north of Gilbert Road and the village of Luckey.
Pollick also provided WTOL 11 with a statement:
"On September 5th, while on site, the EPA informed us they had received complaints from residents regarding “greenish” water downstream of the lagoon. Although we are permitted to discharge treated water from this lagoon, due to the dry weather and the low-water flow of the creek, the EPA instructed us to cease discharge, and we complied.
The District has permitted authorization from the Ohio EPA to discharge treated wastewater from this lagoon. The District made the decision to discharge treated water from the lagoon on Thursday, September 5 to prevent overflow and operate the lagoon efficiently. The discharge was not a sewer overflow, spill, release, or diversion of wastewater from this sanitary lagoon.
The water from the lagoon was treated and tested at the time of the release. The District files monthly reports as required by the permit per required schedule. We cooperate fully with the Ohio EPA to meet standards as required."
Northwestern also provided WTOL 11 with a copy of the discharge permit issued to the company by the OEPA:
While the OEPA's investigation continues, Tyson hopes to see continued improvement of the water in the creek.
He says the problems have been here before and hopes they go away for everyone's sake.
"Didn't used to have the green, didn't used to have the algae growing up on the rocks and everything during the summer months when the water is running," he said. "All that sort of changed in the last five to six years. The opportunity exists for damage to the wildlife."