3/21/97
Awed by 'greatest waste of taxpayer money' ever seen
For the past couple of weeks I have watched in awe the greatest waste of taxpayer money I have ever seen. The Laboratory is disconnecting a building's roof drains from its outfall pipe by order of the New Mexico Environment Department.
In the early 1980s, a 30-year-old building was remodeled and a small photographic darkroom was installed. The designer foolishly misread the future and connected the sink to the roof drain pipe. Later that pipe had to be registered as a National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permitted outfall, which was monitored for compliance with strict limits on pollutants coming from a darkroom.
Years later, the building received a new roof membrane that was slightly acidic. One day, shortly after a rain, a grab sample showed acid above the outfall permit limit even though the darkroom was not being used. To avoid further violations, the operating group installed a recirculation rinse-water system and capped the darkroom connection to the pipe, which seemed like a good idea since that is what NPDES is all about.
NMED ordered the Laboratory to disconnect the building roof drains from the pipe before the permit could be closed. Now holes are being drilled in a reinforced concrete building to divert roof water into a parking lot that drains into the same tributary. Thousands of dollars are being wasted because no one asked how diverting the water would decrease the pollutants in the tributary. No one asked where is the bang for the buck, and above all no one said NO! Now it is too late to save the money. Next time let's stop blindly complying with orders that make no sense and negotiate a reasonable solution.
--Larry Creamer