The new industrial wastewater processing plant at Tooele Army Depot will be in full operation by Tuesday - the deadline set by a court decree.

A ribbon-cutting was held more than a month ago, and the plant has been on for tests in recent weeks, said Public Affairs Officer Susan Voss. "It's something we're very, very proud of."The plant was built after the state sued the Army for alleged environmental violations, Voss said.

In the negotiated consent decree resolving the case, the Army agreed to install several monitoring wells to analyze where the base was contaminating groundwater and what the contaminants were.

TAD has since installed solvent recovery systems in its maintenance shops and pipes to recover wastewater that previously had run through ditches into an unlined lagoon.

The water now flows to the treatment plant, where heavy metals and other contaminants are removed. Then a large part of the water is recycled for further industrial use on site, and some flows into Tooele city sewers, Voss said.