T-L Photo/SHELLEY HANSON BELLAIRE WATER Plant operators pose in front of the plant that recently passed an inspection by the Ohio Department of Environmental Protection. From left are Ben Turvey, chief operator; Sue Bell, operator of record; operator Michael Watkins; and John Brunner, operator of record.

BELLAIRE — The village’s water treatment plant recently passed an inspection conducted by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.

According to a letter addressed to Bellaire Village Council and Mayor Vince DiFabrizio, the inspection was conducted on July 16 by Aaron Pennington, an environmental specialist 2 with the Ohio EPA Division of Surface Water’s compliance and enforcement. He noted one of the plant’s operators, Sue Bell, was present for the inspection along with himself.

“The purpose of the inspection was to evaluate compliance with the terms and conditions of your National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit and to evaluate the operation and maintenance of the plant,” Pennington wrote. “At the time of the inspection no violations were identified.”

The report also notes the plant’s permit is effective from 2017 to 2022. Some of the items checked at the plant included: the discharge system, operations and maintenance, self-monitoring program, laboratory and effluent/receiving water. The compliance data checked at the plant was the for period of June 1, 2017, to May 1, 2019. The letter notes there were no effluent limit or frequency violations.

“This is great news for us. It’s a compliment to the operators, the people who work at the water treatment plant,” Bellaire Councilman Mike Doyle said. “Hopefully they will continue the good work. There are better things to come.”

The report also mentioned it recorded data related to the chemical tetrachloroethylene that is entering an intake valve not being used by the plant. This is the same chemical that state and local health officials determined last year was coming from a former dry cleaning business in the community.

Bell said that valve is not being used by the village and there is no pipe connected to the plant, which means no water from it is entering the plant. However, that water still is tested by the OEPA.

She noted that in recent, separate water quality reports also conducted by the EPA, the village’s treated water shows the chemical is under the limits allowed by the EPA or has also been non-detectable at times.

“We are way under the limit for the maximum content level for drinking water,” Bell said.

Meanwhile, Bell said the plant has a lot of projects being planned, including the future purchase of two new air strippers. She said the air strippers blow air into the water, which would eliminate tetrachloroethylene.

“It blows air into the water and it’s gone,” she said of the chemical.

The village is in the process of seeking grant money, and possibly a bank loan, to purchase the air strippers, she said. If the village could get the air strippers it could connect to the new intake, which would increase the plant’s capacity.

This would allow the plant to sell water to other places, including possibly the city of St. Clairsville, which is the process of possibly selling its water system to Aqua Ohio. St. Clairsville currently uses a reservoir for its source.

Bell said a pump might have to be added, but few other modifications would be needed to get water to St. Clairsville. The village lines are already connected to the Belmont County water system’s lines and so are St. Clairsville’s lines.

“We could probably be pretty instrumental in providing St. Clairsville with water,” Bell said.

Regarding tetrachloroethylene, the chemical was discovered when the village was in the process of drilling a new well for additional drinking water capacity a few years ago. Trace amounts of the chemical were discovered during testing, and the Ohio EPA said the village could not use that new well. Ohio EPA traced the chemical back to one source — a former dry cleaner on Guernsey Street. After additional testing at the building, the chemical vapors were discovered inside.

Investigators are not sure how the chemicals got into the groundwater. It could have been from spills over the years at the cleaning business, or the business may have been dumping it down drains. The cleaner has been closed for more than 20 years.

Health officials said previously that Bellaire’s other existing wells are fine and the village is also receiving water from the county to make up for not being able to use the contaminated well.

Additional vapor intrusion studies were conducted in buildings in the area of the former cleaner including some homes. That study revealed that levels inside the homes tested were acceptable.