EL PASO, TEXAS (KFOX14\/CBS4) \u2014 Wastewater discharge from a Marathon Petroleum Refinery facility made its way into a stormwater basin late last month, prompting El Paso Water to issue a notice of noncompliance and require cleanup and remediation actions. <\/p>\n
After receiving a tip about an incident in late September, which claimed an active wastewater leak from a transfer line near the Marathon refinery led to wastewater flowing into a nearby retention pond and filling tank basins on Marathon’s property, KFOX14\/CBS4 contacted Marathon Petroleum and El Paso Water. <\/p>\n
In a statement to KFOX14\/CBS4, Marathon said flooding on Sept. 22 led the company to contain wastewater and stormwater runoff in a detention pond on its property. Marathon said that step allowed it to avoid wastewater leaving the refinery property.<\/p>\n
“On the evening of Sept. 22, due to significant flooding that took place in the area, Marathon contained wastewater and stormwater runoff in a retention pond on its property. This allowed us to avoid wastewater leaving refinery property. We are currently transferring the wastewater from the retention pond back to our wastewater system for proper treatment,” a Marathon spokesperson said. <\/p>\n
Meanwhile, in a statement to KFOX14\/CBS4, El Paso Water said the incident did not pose a threat to public safety. The utility said it issued a notice of noncompliance to Marathon and required actions \u201cto stop, contain and clean up and remediate the release and minimize impact to the stormwater system.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking to KFOX14\/CBS4 on Monday, City Rep. Josh Acevedo, who represents the area near the refinery, said he was concerned about communication surrounding the incident, adding that he his office was never contacted about the incident. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt goes back to Marathon not sharing information with us,\u201d Acevedo said. \u201cMaybe they shared it with somebody at the city, but it never got to my office, and that’s my district, so we need to kind of be transparent and continue sharing information or just sharing information in general because it’s not really happening.\u201d<\/p>\n
KFOX14\/CBS4 requested an interview with El Paso Water to discuss the incident and learn about a potential timeline for the investigation process, but the utility denied the request and referred KFOX14\/CBS4 to its previous statement. <\/p>\n
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