Jefferson City's public works officials say Unilever plans to have a problem with their stormwater system fixed by today.
The problem was first noticed on Monday when the Missouri State Emergency Response Spill Team advised Unilever of foaming conditions in an off-site creek near its factory on West Truman Boulevard, which manufactures shampoos, conditioners and body washes.
City officials said, after recent heavy rains, products that appeared to have contained shampoo or soap got into Unilever's stormwater system and discharged into a tributary of Grays Creek. As the substances went over rocks, they became agitated and foamed up.
Public works officials went through the plant with company safety officials and looked through stormwater collection boxes. The company hired a firm to go through the system with a closed circuit TV, and they were able to find the problem in a storage pit where products are processed.
Thursday night, Unilever released a statement saying, "After a thorough investigation, we determined that process water - which results from rinsing out the production lines used to make shampoo, conditioner, and body wash - had leaked through a broken seal in our piping system, which has since been fixed. This process water is not harmful to the public health, as it contains materials that you would find in domestic bathwater."
Unilever officials said the will continue to work with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and the city's public works department to make sure the area around the tributary is clean and will monitor the impacted area over the next few days to ensure all signs of foam have been cleaned-up.
City officials said the next big test will be the next heavy rains to see if the fixes worked.