(Arnolds Park)– Getting Mill Creek south of Milford off the DNR’s impaired waters list is going to require a lot of two things: time and money.
That was the gist of a meeting DNR officials hosted on the matter Monday in Arnolds Park.
Mill Creek made the impaired waters list due to low oxygen content, primarily caused by high levels of phosphorous.
Officials outlined several options for reducing the contaminant. One of those, the installation of phosphorous removal equipment at the outlet at the Sanitary Sewer District’s wastewater treatment plant, would be costly. Officials with the Sanitary District estimate it could cost as much as three million dollars to do that.
Other options DNR officials outlined include planting trees along the bank to cool the water in the stream; and installing a pump or flow-control gate in the Lower Gar dam to increase outflow into the stream.
The DNR will continue to receive comments in writing regarding the Mill Creek options until September 4th. After that they’ll decide which option to actively pursue and forward that to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for its approval.
