The state Department of Environmental Quality has fined the owner of an RV park between Bend and Redmond $56,000 for allowing a wastewater leak from an on-site septic system for nearly three years, the department announced Tuesday.

However, the owner of Green Acres RV Park is repairing the system and may pay only a fraction of the fine, said Bob Baggett, a DEQ on-site wastewater specialist in Bend. The improvements include a new filtration system and new pipes in the drainage field adjacent to U.S. Highway 97.

The park’s owner will treat the wastewater before it’s discharged into the soil, Baggett said.

The owner, Richard Boro, was unavailable Tuesday for comment. Terry Fidler, of Tumalo, an excavation contractor hired to make repairs , explained at the site that, over time, biomass accumulated in the drain pipes and blocked the wastewater flowing into the drain field. The wastewater then rose to the surface and pooled.

“Such discharge poses a public health hazard if people come into direct contact with the sewage, or through insects and animals that have had contact with the sewage,” according to DEQ’s news release.

The problem is not new to Boro and has been around since at least 1991, when a previous owner made repairs, Fidler said. He said the wastewater that pooled above ground was the effluent left over after solids settled out in the septic tank.

Baggett said DEQ has worked with Boro since December 2011 to correct the problem. The fix made by Fidler represents a significant improvement over previous attempts to deal with the problem, Baggett said.

He said the agency required Boro to eventually find another spot for the drain field. Boro has until Sept. 19 to file a long-term plan for evaluating and repairing the entire system, according to the DEQ notice of civil penalty.

Boro may avoid all but $4,000 of the fine if he completes the requirements laid out in the DEQ notice.

The park, about 50 lots along southbound U.S. Highway 97, appears to be home to several permanent residents.

— Reporter: 541-617-7815, jditzler@bendbulletin.com