A little after 4 PM last Monday, employees from the City of Eddyville’s Sewer Treatment Plant were about to close up shop for the afternoon — when they heard a disturbance that ended up pointing to a “catastrophic mechanical failure.”
During Monday’s Pennyrile Area Development District January session, Lyon County Judge-Executive Jaime Green-Smith gave a considerable recount of the events that transpired, and what’s to come of the sequential batch reactor tank in the coming months.
The tank, she said, had three chambers and three interior separating walls.
When one of those dividers failed, the weight of the water — combined with the collapse — forced an exterior seam to rupture, and out spilled partially untreated waste.
She noted that the City of Kuttawa’s water intake lies in a nearby bay, and that dams for Kentucky and Barkley would have to be closed for the water to stay stagnant.
Both, however, were open last Monday, which she said kept the water moving — and made it more difficult for the sewage to get in the bay.
In order to create an initial assessment, structural engineers, as well as a wastewater engineer, have already paid a visit. Details, she added, are limited at this time, but it’s considered a major priority with so many municipalities potentially impacted.
Green said there was roughly three feet left in a pair of nearby emergency groundwater lagoons, which proved to be a tenuous situation for about 48 hours, but also proved pivotal in preventing further raw and partially-raw sewage flooding.
Furthermore, she said several major municipalities are, thankfully, upstream.
She further noted that City of Kuttawa water sources have already tested within appropriate and safe health limits, and as such, a major crisis has been averted.
She also described the tank as less than 30 years old, and cautioned that it could take awhile before inspectors arrive at a conclusion.
Eddyville officials have already stated that there is currently no reason for concern regarding the drinking water in Lyon County, nor the surrounding counties.
