Mayor Mike Purzycki announced that the City of Wilmington, with assistance from the New Castle County government, will undertake a random inspection process for the more than 40 private businesses that produce industrial waste in Wilmington and the county.
Purzycki said the industrial waste from the companies is sent daily to Wilmington’s Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) on Hay Road to be processed.
In late February, Purzycki directed that random inspections be instituted to improve the process for ensuring that businesses do not exceed hazardous waste discharge limits in the liquids they send to the waste treatment plant.
If the businesses exceed those limits, they may be in violation of permits granted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC). The new inspection process began in early March.
Purzycki said Wilmington is required to report its periodic inspection results, as well as those conducted by the County government, to the EPA and DNREC. However, he said, it is Wilmington, not New Castle County, that is held accountable by the Federal and State agencies for any inefficiencies in the process because Wilmington owns the WWTP. That’s why the Mayor said Wilmington sought and received cooperation from the County’s Department of Special Services in adopting a revised inspection program.
However, Wilmington, not New Castle County, is held accountable by the federal and state agencies for any inefficiencies in the process because Wilmington owns the waste plant. That’s why the mayor said Wilmington sought and received cooperation from the county’s Department of Special Services in adopting a revised inspection program.
“From an environmental perspective, it is imperative that we monitor these facilities efficiently,” said Purzycki. “It is unclear to me why a scheduled and announced inspection system was used for many years, but it has been corrected and I am grateful to our Public Works Department and to the County’s Special Services Department for working together to improve the process by which we hold these private facilities accountable.”
A recently-completed Federal, state and city investigation, conducted over several years, resulted in a guilty plea in February by a Wilmington company—International Petroleum Corporation—for violating the Clean Water Act for allowing hazardous chemicals to flow to the waste plant.
“Our job is to establish the most efficient government system possible for the best delivery of programs and services,” said Purzycki. “But, sometimes you learn through other circumstances that something is not working correctly or needs to be changed. That’s what happened here, and the City and our County partners are operating a better system today to ensure that all laws are followed.”
