CANFIELD, Ohio — According to www.vindy.com, the Ohio EPA cited the owner of Superior Car Wash for discharging mud and soil from a non-permitted drilling operation on his property into Sawmill Creek.

Residents reported at 3 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 8th, that the stream had turned cloudy, the article continued.

Cardinal Joint Fire District, Mahoning County HazMat and Environmental Protection Agency responders worked the night of Oct. 8th to locate the source of the substance found in the creek behind Canfield High School, which led them to the carwash on Tuesday morning, the article noted.

City Manager Wade Calhoun said that the carwash owner had contracted to dig a water well on-site that Monday, which produced sediment that drained into a storm sewer, but he didn’t have a permit for the operation, the article added.

“The good news was there’s no chemicals, no substances,” Calhoun said, adding the slightly increased acidity levels reported in the stream could have been raised naturally.

As a result, the owner is facing two penalties from the city — one for unpermitted drilling work and one for illegal stormwater discharge — in addition to the EPA’s penalties, the article noted.

According to Calhoun, the city’s fees will be 50 percent higher than what the owner would have paid for the permit, the article stated; in addition, the city is billing the carwash owner for the man-hours spent by fire responders.

“He blamed whoever was in charge of drilling the well — that they should have gotten the permits,” Calhoun said. “Ultimately, the property owner is responsible for that.”

The owner had recently applied for demolition permits to tear down two carwash bays on the property, and he said that the new water well was meant to connect the carwash’s water lines, the article concluded.

Read the original article here.