OCWAP Enforcement Action Summary:
A&K Development Co.
Zinc levels in stormwater discharged from A&K Development Co.‘s Chambers Street facility have regularly exceeded the applicable industrial stormwater permit benchmark of 0.7 milligrams per liter since at least 1997. Oregon Clean Water Action Project sent A&K Development Co. a letter on behalf of Willamette Riverkeeper on January 26, 2007 informing A&K Development Co. that Willamette Riverkeeper would file a Clean Water Act suit against A&K Development Co. unless it addressed its zinc problems.
A&K Development Co. responded to our letter within a week, and subsequently performed an evaluation aimed at determining the source or sources of its elevated zinc levels. This evaluation concluded that the primary source of elevated zinc levels appears to be deteriorating zinc coating on the roof of its main building. A&K Development Co. accepted a bid to reroute the runoff from the gutter system on this building to a bioswale, away from the impervious surface that discharges into the storm system. This gutter work is scheduled to take place on December 20, 2007 weather permitting, and should educe the levels of zinc discharged to the storm drains.
A&K Development Co. also removed metal storage racks and approximately one ton of detritus that had accumulated underneath them that was believed to be a significant contributor to the elevated zinc levels measured in its storm water system.
We will continue to review monitoring results for this site as soon as they become available in order to gauge the effectiveness of A&K Development Co.‘s efforts to reduce zinc levels in its stormwater discharges.
