Holly Fournier

The Detroit News

A chlorine leak at the Detroit Waste Water Treatment on Thursday prompted a HAZMAT Level 3 response, according to the city’s fire department.

The leak was discovered Thursday morning in an 80-ton tank of chlorine at 9300 W. Jefferson, near the Rouge River and Interstate 75, Chief Dale Bradley said.

A “limited amount” of the substance leaked from a feed line into a process building at the plant, according to officials with the Great Lakes Water Authority, which operates the facility. The leak was “immediately” contained.

“All early warning systems were activated and operated as planned,” Great Lakes Water Authority officials said in a Thursday afternoon statement. “As is standard protocol, the emergency response staff on-site notified appropriate local, state and federal agencies. Presently, the building’s air control system is removing chlorine from the atmosphere inside the building.”

It was not immediately clear exactly how much chlorine leaked before the situation was contained.

A HAZMAT Level 3 is called when a crisis requires resources beyond those available through typical state or regional channels, according to the National Fire Protection Association. The situations may pose extreme, immediate and/or long-term risk to the environment and public health.

But Thursday’s leak did not pose any threat, water authority officials said.

“Emergency response personnel evaluated the scene and determined there was no danger to public health. There were no injuries to personnel,” officials said. “Further, there is no impact to drinking water or surface water related to this circumstance.”

The leak comes several months after a series of fires at the same plant sparked a war of words over safety at the facility.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 207 blamed the March fires on “chronic understaffing, deferred maintenance and organization chaos.”

The Great Lakes Water Authority, which built the plant alongside the state’s Department of Environmental Quality, disputed the union’s understaffing claims and said the fires had no connection to staffing levels.

HFournier@detroitnews.com

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