BARABOO, Wis. — According to www.wiscnews.com, despite a complaint from a home-owning neighbor, the Viking Express Market carwash will continue to operate with a broken stopper, the function of which is to keep wastewater runoff from flowing offsite.
“This is something where we wouldn’t shut down the carwash at this point,” said Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Conservation Warden Supervisor Mike Green. “We give people a chance to make it right.”
In the meantime, the owner of the carwash has placed a pile of dirt at the edge of the lot to keep the water contained to his property, the article noted.
However, the neighboring homeowner, Samantha Langer, is not pleased with the resolution and is angry that it has taken over a year for someone to respond to her complaints, the article added; there is still a pool of carwash water on her lawn.
Langer said she first contacted the carwash last summer, and when she received no response, she contacted the Baraboo City Engineering Department, also to no avail, the article stated.
The runoff, she alleged, continued to worsen, and she noticed that trees were dying in a corner of her property, the article continued; she said there was also unusual growth and discoloration in her nearby garden, so she decided not to plant there this year.
On the weekend of June 3-4, Langer filed complaints with the Baraboo Police Department and the Department of Natural Resources, the article noted; she then informed a television station of the problem.
“Had (the owner) addressed this when I took it to them directly, I never would have gone public,” Langer said. “This is what I had to do to get this pile of dirt put there.”
An investigation of the carwash facility took place, and it was determined that a stopper meant to keep water from flowing off the property was broken, the article noted.
Green, who went to inform the carwash owner of this information, stated that the owner has been cooperative and “was acting in good faith” to replace the broken part; therefore, state officials will not issue a citation, the article added.
Langer, however, is concerned that the wastewater from the carwash is not safe, despite what officials stated, and plans to hire someone to test her soil to see if it’s been contaminated, the article noted.
“It’s like a little carwash chemical waterfall,” Langer said. “I don’t know what’s in those chemicals, and that’s what really concerns me.”
Read the full article here.
