Source: http://www.norwalkreflector.com, January 27, 2015
By: Aaron Krause
As a former biology/ecology teacher, Bob Black said he is “very environmentally conscious.”
As owner of Norwalk Super Wash, he is “concerned” about a chemical spill that has caused quite a stir and hasn’t ruled out sabotage.
What happened at the Milan Avenue car wash on Friday “just threw me for a loop,” Black said.
Black is president of Morrison, Ill.-based Super Wash Inc., which has more than 700 locations throughout the United States. While some of the company’s locations are franchises, Black owns the one in Norwalk.
On Monday, Black spent three hours in a meeting with representatives from the company that manufactured the winter car polish that entered the drain, moved on to a detention pond and then traveled to a nearby creek, where crews removed what authorities called a toxic, flammable liquid.
Black said the material used in the polish that caused the pond to turn green is a dye. He added that dye was a “bit stronger” than what Super Wash normally uses.
The reason for the stronger dye? Periodically, Black said, his company makes improvements that create a better appearance on vehicles but are “certainly not harmful.”
Black added an official from the chemical company he uses, Environmental Remediation Services (ERS) Inc., confirmed its harmless nature after his three-hour meeting. ERS of Ohio is based in Bowling Green.
A city official, in a previous Reflector story, noted that a “harmful chemical” was used.
“And that’s not altogether wrong (but at the same time) it’s not altogether right,” Black said.
In cold climates such as in Norwalk, Super Wash uses methanol — a chemical that is used to prevent freezing.
While methanol is used for a variety of other purposes — as a solvent, fuel and feedstock — and is included in many products, such as an antifreeze in pipelines and windshield washer fluid, the chemical is highly toxic to humans and aquatic life.
“Do we use methanol in Norwalk? Yes, we do in the winter time,” Black said. “Not just Norwalk, (but) every place where the climate is freezing.”
However, Black said his company uses an amount of methanol that falls far below the threshold for every city where a Super Wash is located — including Norwalk.
“Methanol can safely go into sanitary sewers and the treatment plant treats it,” Black said.
While there’s a limit to the amount of methanol that can safely seep into sanitary sewers, “we’re far below that level; every Super Wash is.”
Black said car washes generally never use clear chemicals, for a “practical reason.” Colored chemicals allow people to see the products in the transport lines, ensuring customers are getting what they paid for.
So aside from the methanol and the stronger dye, what material caused the problem and how did it find its way into the mixture?
“Right now, nobody knows,” Black said. “Did someone intentionally pollute the storm water system just to make us look bad?
“Maybe someone put antifreeze in the catch basin, which went to (the) retention pond.”
It will cost Black’s company; he said his company has taken financial responsibility for the problem, but has no idea how much money it will amount to.
In Ohio, unlike some other states, if an effluent discolors a body of water, it’s an EPA violation, Black said. That’s not the case in Illinois, for example, where every St. Patrick’s Day the Chicago River is dyed green, Black said.
“We’ve got to follow the rules and we always follow the rules,” he said.
Black said the Super Wash in Norwalk doesn’t have a surveillance camera. He’s hoping a nearby bank does, thus allowing investigators to see whether there was any foul play.
Black said he launched the first Super Wash in 1976 in Illinois. Since then, he’s started 730 locations in 24 states. In those 38 years, he has “never had this situation before.”
“There’s a weasel in the woodpile somewhere,” Black said. “We’re as concerned, if not more so, than anybody in Norwalk, because if we have a problem there, we have a potential problem at 600 other sites.”
Black said the chemical company is using an independent test lab that will break down the run off into parts per million. The results will indicate whether somebody dumped antifreeze, paint or another such product into the water.
On Saturday morning, Norwalk firefighters met with ERS crews at the 219 Milan Ave. facility. The crew met with wastewater treatment plant officials and decided to flush the sanitary line from the car wash with 2,000 gallons of water from a fire department tanker. They removed the clog from the drain and flushed the area, with no noticeable chemical draining from the pipe.
By noon Saturday, “the situation was totally rectified,” Black said.
An ERS representative drained the retention pond, explored the waterway and determined there was nothing for the EPA or an emergency response team to clean up.
“The physical clean-up of the pond and creek has been completed,” Ohio EPA spokeswoman Dina Pierce said. “The liquid material is contained in a tank until it can be disposed of properly.”