IDEM to investigate

Union-Go lagoon issue

By BILL RICHMOND

City editor

The Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) is investigating an apparent problem with the manure lagoon at Union-Go Dairy. An IDEM spokesperson said Thursday gas accumulation under the lagoon's rubber liner has caused it to bubble above the lagoon surface in several areas.

IDEM representative Barry Sneed said the 20 million gallon manure lagoon has a clay liner with a rubber membrane liner above it as an extra precaution. Sneed said the clay liner will likely keep anything from penetrating into the ground.

"Union-Go is not out of compliance because they have maintained their required 24 inches of freeboard," Sneed said.

Freeboard is the distance that must be maintained between the manure level and the top edge of the lagoon. Neighbors of the dairy say the bubbles in the rubber liner extend beyond the top edge of the lagoon.

"An IDEM inspector will be out there as early as sometime next week," Sneed said. "The inspector will meet with the Union-Go consultant to find out what's causing the problem and come to a resolution on how to address it.

"We are concerned about it. We haven't seen this happen before and we'd like to see what is making it happen."

Sampling tests from Union-Go test wells have come back clear. The most recent such sampling was conducted April 7.

Sneed said Union-Go owner Tony Goltstein is in touch with an engineering consulting firm to try to find out what the problem is and fix it.

Neighbors of the dairy farm arranged for an airplane flyover to photograph the lagoon to document the number and size of the bubbles.

Environmentally Concerned Citizens of Randolph County member Wendy Carpenter said there is clearly a leak in the lagoon's rubber liner.

"What else would cause such a build-up of gas underneath the liner," Carpenter said. "Obviously there is manure underneath the liner."