State College police are investigating after someone dumped more than 5,000 gallons of an unidentified oil into the University Area Joint Authority sanitary sewer system earlier this week.
UAJA reported that it occurred sometime between Sunday night and Monday morning.
Cory Miller, UAJA executive director, said operators found the oil quickly and it was contained within the wastewater treatment system. It did not impact Spring Creek or the watershed.
He added that it is unknown whether it was dumped intentionally or accidentally.
After identifying the issue, UAJA staff took a number of measures to contain it, including putting it into an extra holding tank while treating it, adjusting aeration levels needed for treating oil and frequently backwashing filters, Miller said.
“Lots of different operational things were done, so there has been a whole of effort by the staff to take care of this,” Miller said.
Some of the oil was collected in the wet well at the Fox Hollow Road pump station, which Miller said narrows down the area of the UAJA sewer system where it could have been dumped.
“That eliminates all of Harris Township and eliminates nearly all of College Township from the picture, as well as a substantial portion of State College,” Miller said. “It could not have come from there because that portion of the system does not flow to the Fox Hollow pump station.”
UAJA serves all of State College Borough and portions of College, Harris, Ferguson and Patton townships.
At the Fox Hollow pump station, a contractor was hired to skim off the oil from the wet well and haul it to a hazardous waste disposal site in Ohio, which is the nearest permitted facility for handling oil disposal, Miller said.
Anyone with information about the source of the contamination is asked to contact State College Police at (814) 234-7150, by email or by submitting an anonymous tip online.
