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Show City seeks 'clean water' change The Board of..Health is presently considering a change in their "clean water standard" which would allow Cedar City to more effectively use their sewer waste water, City Manager Mike Embley reported this week. The state has set a "5-5 standard," Embley said, to enable cities to use waste water for sprinkling irrigation. However, he pointed out, Cedar City presently is the only waste treatment plaVit in the state able to reach even a "10-10 standard." "We were led to believe the state changed their standard after our plant was approved," Embley said. "But it was our planners who made the mistake; the state standard has always been that." The 5-5 standard (which refers to the number of parts of suspended solids per million parts of water) can be achieved at the local sewage treatment plant "once in a while" Embley said, although the plant is really designed to meet a consistent 10-10. Colorado, Arizona and California, he points out, have 10-10 as their waste water standard. "And we usually think of California as having high standards for such things." Embley said, "these states have unrestricted sprinkling irrigation with 10-10 water- it is a well established thing." By pointing to Cedar City's high marks in meeting 10-10 consistently, the state may allow the change. Part of the reason for the allowance if it comes, Embley said, is Mayor Jack Sawyers excellent ex-cellent negotiations. "Mayor Sawyers is a very capable negotiator," the city manager noted. "He has done a real good job getting to the problem, making peace with the State Board of Health and working with them." "There is no official indication in-dication the change is coming, but it looks good. We will still be in a standard that will protect the public." |