DEP sets deadlines in Century

Following a meeting held between the town of Century personnel and the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Tuesday morning, sources said the town could face a lawsuit for not coming in compliance sooner.

"The situation is we had a meeting with the DEP on April 10 and discussed a lot of issues we've been having with the water and wastewater," said Century Mayor Luis Gomez. "All I can tell you is we've addressed every issue from the DEP since I've taken this seat, as far a warning letters, consent orders and everything. Nothing has gone unchallenged. What they are trying to do is penalize us for what Henry Hawkins and Ben Boutwell did. They ignored the warnings, they ignored the consent orders and they ignored all the record keeping. So Mr. Boutwell stepped down, and I stepped into a mess."

Gomez said that Century's on-going issues with the water and the water treatment plant are nothing different from other cities, but he thinks the reason is that the issues went unaddressed for so long.

"That's the route my previous predecessors took, they felt like they did not have to answer any of the DEP issues," said Gomez.

Gomez says he and others on town staff are now working on doing all they can to address the issues. He said all the records are now getting in on time and all the codes are being done properly. The town hired U.S. Water for six months to assist with bringing the town into compliance.

"The DEP just basically lost confidence in Century," said Gomez. "They've been told that we were going to fix it and we did nothing. So I'm paying the price for that."

Gomez said the town is not losing water plant or sewer plant and hinted that more time to work on the systems is the key.

"It's strictly up to DEP to give us an extension to see if the practices we are implementing are going to suffice to give them a little comfort and to see that we are trying," said Gomez. "I've done everything, and this council, to get this town out of hot water. We've been working four months and almost all the consent items are completed. It's just DEP."

Former water superintendent and council member Alicia Johnson, who has been helping keep the water treatment plant running at no cost to the town, said that when there are issues with a system, they can range from small violations, like maintaining proper log books, to major violations, such as very expensive machinery that is in need of replacing, such as a sludge press, which can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to repair and/or replace. Century has and is receiving grants that allowed it to hire an engineering company that has provided plans, divided into phases as money becomes available, that the town is utilizing to make repairs and to replace decades-old machinery that is currently in use.

"It's a continuation of the consent order," said Johnson. "Replacing the sludge press, which is a huge, huge expenditure, which we don't have the money for, it's already in Phase II, covered by a grant. The progress we've made so far should be sufficient, in all honesty."