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Utility district minutes: Valar 'tied into the county sewer system without prior authorization'; state permit needed

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2026-03-19 · loc-015 · Castle Valley Special Service District, Valar Atomics, Utah Division of Water Quality, Jess Housekeeper, Willem Kriel

Castle Valley Special Service District (CVSSD) runs water and sewer for Castle Valley towns including Orangeville. Its approved minutes of 19 February 2026 record Valar's Jess Housekeeper presenting Valar's plans (by video), the board approving a $20,000 outside-district water connection for Valar contingent on all water shares being submitted to Orangeville, and the manager reporting that Valar 'will be required to apply to' the state Division of Water Quality (DWQ) for a sewer discharge permit, which DWQ would administer for four years, and that no sewer connection would be approved until DWQ approved the permit. The approved minutes of 19 March 2026 (whose opening line misdates the meeting to 19 February) record the manager's update: sewer plans 'were not submitted to the State as required', water service work was paused pending DWQ approval, 'Valar tied into the county sewer system without prior authorization', Valar was asking for ordinary sanitary sewer service for restrooms only with no process water, a site visit with the regional DEQ engineer was planned, and water service would not be provided until all sewer permits and approvals were in place; no action was taken. The district's May, July and August 2026 minutes (read; the June minutes, approved on 16 July, were not found on the state public notice website as of 30 September 2026) do not return to the sewer issue, though the May minutes discuss annexing property near Orangeville 'that may be developed by Valor', and its 17 September agenda lists no Valar item. DOE's categorical exclusion puts water use under 1,000 gallons a day for domestic use, with no process-water discharges, which matches the restrooms-only request. As of 30 September 2026, no record read shows whether DWQ issued a permit, or how the tie-in the minutes report was resolved.

In plain termsThe local water-and-sewer district recorded in March 2026 a staff report that Valar had 'tied into the county sewer system without prior authorization', and had not sent its sewer plans to the state as required. The request itself was ordinary, toilets and sinks only, not reactor water. It matters less for danger than for process: the district's minutes are the only record of it found, and no Valar response or later resolution appears in the records read. Whether the state permit was later issued was not found in the records read as of 30 September 2026; a GRAMA request to the Division of Water Quality and to the district would show it.
verified 2026-10-02: Re-read the Feb and Mar minutes (text) and the May and July minutes (scanned): holds. Corrected 'June minutes read' (June's are not posted). Plain-language text: 'habit' implied a pattern from one record, now 'process'. Revised before publication (late September 2026): the plain-language text attributes the tie-in to the staff report and drops a conclusion. Revised before publication (2026-09-30): reworded the detail.

In tabs: Carbon & Emery, Safety Related Issues, Public Process, Operations