AutoCamp Still Facing Issues; Board Of Health Will Review Next Month
Falmouth Board of Health will continue to monitor the AutoCamp on Palmer Avenue after the presence of quaternary ammonium was discovered in the septic system.
Eric Smith, project executive with WhiteWater, said current efforts are focused on identifying and mitigating the use of quaternary ammonium compounds. AutoCamp started noticing the compounds last month and began testing the levels regularly, as the compounds have a significant impact on the system’s function.
Quaternary ammonium compounds, also known as quats, are a type of chemical that contains nitrogen and are used for a variety of purposes, including disinfectant, sanitizer and wastewater treatment. Quats are highly effective at killing bacteria, viruses and mold, and are often found in cleaning products used in restaurants, hospitals and hospitality-type businesses. Because qauts contain nitrogen, they contribute to the total nitrogen in the septic effluent, meaning that AutoCamp's nitrogen levels are beyond the threshold set by the board of health.
“We are performing an on-site review of the products and the practices as it relates to some of the housekeeping and different work that’s going on,” Mr. Smith said. “We expect to have that completed in the next week to really try and look at the source of the quaternary ammonium compounds.”
Mr. Smith said WhiteWater is currently considering "quat kill" for mitigation at the recommendation of FR Mahoney and Associates, the camp’s equipment representatives. Mr. Smith said he personally has never worked with the product, QK1000, but it is intended to neutralize and mitigate quats in the water.
“My question is, it was back in April when you started seeing the quats,” health board member George Heufelder said. “Why wasn’t there a full-court press? Notify the people, no more quats used for cleaning, figure out another way to clean these things up. I mean, that’s a month. Is this residual for stopping a month ago when it was discovered or is this, ‘Well, we didn’t know what it was,’ and you just let them continue the way they were cleaning?”
Mr. Smith explained that new portions of the camp were brought online at the end of March and when WhiteWater officials saw the impacts of that they figured it would dilute over time, but it did not. Now that they have good data, Mr. Smith said, they know they have a quaternary ammonium problem but haven’t been able to properly mitigate it yet. But when asked by Mr. Heufelder, he said he could not confidently say that no quaternary ammonium compound products are being used currently.
Terry Bechtold, the new interim general manager of AutoCamp, told the board that the only change at the camp since its opening has been the occupancy increase. He attested to the fact that housekeeping does not actually pour anything down the drains during the cleaning process, but did say that the rags being used for cleaning were then being washed in a washing machine on site. That stopped about seven days ago, and Mr. Bechtold said he is committing himself to be part of the solution to the quaternary ammonium problem.
“The environment is very important to me,” he said. “I’m committed to reviewing all of our chemicals that we’re using now and researching different chemicals.”
All of the current products come from EcoLab, but Mr. Bechtold has said he will work directly with the company to find alternative sustainable products to use. Mr. McGann recommended working with the vendor to get the problem taken care of, but Mr. Bechtold said he has only recently joined AutoCamp and will work toward that.
The health board was not pleased to witness what it interpreted as a lack of communication between WhiteWater, FR Mahoney and AutoCamp, as well as a lack of urgency in dealing with the problem. Chairwoman Diana Molloy was concerned that after a month of seeing quats present in the water on April 22, nothing was done to mitigate it.
“We’re not doing anything differently, so why do we expect different results?” she asked.
Former AutoCamp general manager Mimi Dufault said that when phases three and four were brought online at the end of March, they were flushed with antifreeze. On April 15, high ammonium numbers were still present, which prompted AutoCamp to begin testing for quats to determine if the problem had stemmed from the antifreeze flush or was different entirely.
“I keep getting back to that one date one month ago, 30 days ago, when there was clear indication that there were quats,” Mr. Heufelder said. “What was done was either not communicated or not followed through. That’s the concern of the board. You know that’s why the first fine went through…we can’t let that happen again.”
Mr. Bechtold told the board that as of the next day, he would cease the use of all chemicals and switch to diluted bleach.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t here two months ago to do that but I’m going to give you my commitment today that I will make that change immediately,” Mr. Bechtold said. “I will take control and oversight and [work] with our partners here to ensure that we get to our numbers where we need to be.”
Mr. Heufelder commended Mr. Bechtold’s commitment, but said that he is not part of the problem; the problem is systemic and existed long before him.
“The board, as you might understand, has a pretty tough decision here because we’re trying to figure out do we let them operate a full season, just say, ‘Oh yeah, they’ll have it,’” Mr. Heufelder asked. “For a year, they didn’t have it and shame on us, we fell asleep but we can’t do that again. People were really concerned about this.”
Mr. Heufelder said the board might need to consider reducing the flow to that system until it can be sure that there is a responsible party taking care of it, or find some other option.
“You’re backing us into a corner here,” he said.
Even if AutoCamp immediately ceases to use cleaning products containing quaternary ammonium compounds, the quats will stay in the system for a while; they do not just go away.
AutoCamp is also monitoring levels of biochemical oxygen demand, or BOD, and total suspended solids, or TSS. Levels have been extremely consistent, which raised a red flag for board member Benjamin Van Mooy, who recommended that AutoCamp check on its sampling procedure.
“It’s an incredibly narrow range when you consider all of the complexity of the system,” he said. “I would look at sampling bottles, vendors for the bottles, soaps used by people taking the samples, things along those lines. Because it is suspiciously consistent; it’s really peculiar.”
Speaking to the use of quat kill, FR Mahoney representative Michael Sparks said there is another property operator in New Jersey that used the product and got good results, but the problem is that it is not currently available through AutoCamp’s vendor. Mr. Sparks said he does not know where the New Jersey property gets its quat kill but that he will look into it. Meanwhile, AutoCamp’s operator is pursuing the quat kill as a potential mitigation technique but said it could take some time for it to be in stock.
The board recommended that FR Mahoney, WhiteWater and AutoCamp engage in more thorough and clear communication moving forward to make it easier for them to work together at mitigating the problem. Ms. Molloy recommended some type of daily meeting or communication to help get things off the ground.
“It’s all about communication, not for a lack of effort,” she said. “You’ve got to make these things happen.”
Mr. Heufelder motioned to continue the hearing until the next board of health meeting on June 6, at which time there will be a full review of the situation at AutoCamp to see whether the quaternary ammonium issue has improved. The board acknowledged that the quats will be in the system for a while but did not recommend pumping the system because it could have negative effects on the system’s biomass.
Richard Trudeau, who attended the board on behalf of the Sippewissett Association, asked the board why, given the failure of the system last year and the ongoing inconsistencies when it comes to communication, it is not willing to suspend operations until “the collective body of the AutoCamp can get their act together and prove that they can operate the system within the guardrails.” Mr. Heufelder replied that the design of the system requires biomass to be built up for proper operation, and in order to get that, the system needs to be functionally flowing.
“It’s sort of a Catch-22,” he said. “I’m not ready to do that at this point. It could occur at the next meeting; if there is no progress then you might see that drastic action. But I don’t want to limit them at this point until the next meeting because they’re going to need that flow for building the treatment.”
Mr. Heufelder said he thinks that AutoCamp understands what is at stake and believes it is on a good path.
“As I look at the history of it, as bad as these numbers are, they’re going in a good direction,” he said. “What the big stumbling block is is the quaternary ammonium; I’ve seen that trip many plants before, small treatment plants like this….I think we’re going in a good direction, we just need to move there faster so we don’t have to clip the season short.”
The board voted unanimously to continue the hearing until Monday, June 6.