Timet hoping to eliminate discharge to wastewater ponds

Friday, March 7, 2003 | 9:33 a.m.

If experiments to recover industrial wastewater prove successful, Titanium Metals Corp. could quit discharging water containing chemicals to the open ponds near its plant within two years.

Timet has been operating for 50 years and is surrounded by the growing city of Henderson. The plant produces about 30 million tons annually of titanium ingots used in everything from aircraft to golf clubs.

County officials said the company has reduced its overall air pollution discharge by 82 percent since 1997, when state and county officials had investigated multiple accidents at the plant, including an explosion that injured two workers.

"It's hard to believe the company has had that much of a success," Carrie MacDougall, assistant director of the county's Air Quality Department, said.

The department is responsible for enforcing local air quality regulations.

Since 1997 Timet has not violated air quality rules, MacDougall said.

However, the ponds, located east of Boulder Highway, continue to be a problem for the company.

At a public forum Thursday night, which no one from the community attended, Craig Wilkinson, Timet's western regional manager for environmental affairs, said that the company is proposing to stop discharges of water used in making the titanium. The company hopes to switch to a recycling system instead.

"It could be within two years that we could close the ponds," Wilkinson said.

Timet is trying to eliminate discharging its wastewater to any pond, he said.

Developers are interested in building homes and businesses on the property once the ponds are cleaned up.