EPA Proposes Changes to Deep Well Injection Rule

The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed revisions to the federal requirements for deep well injection of municipal wastewater to protect underground sources of drinking water in South Florida.

The proposed revisions establish an alternate method for owners and/or operators of municipal wells in Florida to comply with Underground Injection Control (UIC) regulations. The proposed rule pertains only to certain counties in Florida largely because their underground features are capable of accepting large quantities of domestic wastewater through deep injection wells.

The rule is designed to protect Underground Sources of Drinking Water (USDW). Treatment facilities would have to demonstrate that their injection programs would not contaminate any USDW in a manner that would cause it to exceed primary drinking water regulations and other health-based standards.

Specifically, EPA is proposing and seeking public comment on two options:

Advanced Wastewater Treatment with Non-Endangerment Demonstration. This measure would require all facilities to provide advanced wastewater treatment and high-level disinfection and demonstrate that the injected fluids would not cause USDW to exceed the national primary drinking water regulations and other health-based standards.

In-depth Hydrogeologic Demonstra-tion and Advanced Treatment, as Necessary. This measure would require demonstration that the injection would not cause the USDW to exceed the national primary drinking water regulations and other health-based standards. Failure to accomplish this demonstration would require treatment of the injectate to such a level that the fluids would not cause exceedances in the USDW. This option is designed to provide the same level of public health protection as the preceding option, but the level of treatment required would be determined by an in-depth study on a case-by-case basis.

Although both options require demonstrations from the owners or operators of the affected facilities, the demonstration required under Option 1 could be less extensive than the hydrogeologic demonstration required under Option 2.

Under current UIC regulations, existing municipal injection wells that have exhibited movement of fluids into the USDW, regardless of fluid quality, must cease deep injection as the only legal remedy to compliance.

Alternative options, such as surface water disposal, are restrictive in Florida due to the need to protect the state's fragile streams, estuaries, wetlands, rivers and ocean beaches. By focusing on the quality of the wastewater disposed and specific effects on the aquifers, the rule would allow existing deep municipal injection wells to continue operation while underground sources of drinking water are protected. Recent sampling has indicated that fluids currently entering the USDW as a result of municipal injection do not exceed any drinking water or other health based standards.

The proposed rule and other information is available from the EPA Region 4 Web site at www.epa.gov/region4/uic/uic index.htm.

EPA Takes Action to Address MTBE Contamination

EPA Administrator Carol M. Browner said the Clinton-Gore Administration will fund two $1 million pilot projects, one each in New York and California, to assist with the cleanup of the gasoline additive MTBE in contaminated community water supplies.

Areas of Long Island, N.Y., and Santa Monica, Calif., are among those communities most affected by MTBE contamination.

New York is being awarded $1 million to accelerate cleanup at 50 MTBE contaminated sites on Long Island. The funds for Santa Monica, Calif., will be used to help the state and the city with the cleanup of MTBE contaminated groundwater.

MTBE, or methyl tertiary butyl ether, is an additive in gasoline used by many refiners to meet a provision of the Clean Air Act that calls for the use of oxygenates in fuels. In 1999, the Clinton-Gore Administration convened a Blue-Ribbon Panel to investigate if MTBE posed special risks to water supplies. In the fall of 1999, the panel presented scientific proof confirming that MTBE threatens water supplies. The administration subsequently called on Congress to phase down or eliminate MTBE. The administration also has begun regulatory action to control MTBE under the Toxics Substances Control Act.

Most Drinking Water Systems Meet Health-Based Standards

EPA has released an annual report showing that 94 percent of American water systems reported no violations of health-based drinking water standards. The study, titled "Providing Safe Drinking Water in America: 1998 National Public Water Systems Compliance Report," provides compliance data on public water systems in the United States.

Based on information reported by states to EPA's computer-based tracking system, the report shows that 84 percent of all violations were of monitoring and reporting requirements - mostly at small systems serving 3300 or fewer people. The report also describes steps EPA is taking to ensure the public's right to know about the safety of their drinking water.

EPA requires water systems to provide Americans with annual reports on the safety of their local drinking water and has made drinking water information available at: http://www.epa.gov/safewater. EPA's new compliance report is available at: http://es.epa.gov/oeca/main/fedgov/compliance/pws98.pdf

EPA Releases Nutrient Criteria Guidance for Rivers and Streams

EPA has released the Nutrient Criteria Technical Guidance Manual for Rivers and Streams (65 FR 46167), one of four technical guidance documents the agency is preparing as part of the National Nutrient Strategy.

The Strategy was developed in response to the Clean Water Action Plan, which specifically stated that EPA will establish recommended water quality criteria for nutrients reflecting different types of water bodies and different eco-regions. The technical guidance document provides State and Tribal water quality managers with guidance on how to develop numeric nutrient criteria for rivers and streams. EPA invites the public to provide scientific comments on the guidance, which has undergone external peer review.

EPA may publish a revised document once public comments are evaluated. All significant scientific information must be submitted by September 25, 2000. Peer review comments and a copy of the guidance are available at EPA's nutrient web site, http://www.EPA.gov/OST/standards/ nutrient.html.

Enforcement Actions

EPA has ordered AK Steel Corp. to provide alternative drinking water for more than 4,000 people in Zelienople, Pa., and to reduce nitrate discharges from its steel mill by October 2001.

The agency said since 1995, AK Steel has more than tripled its waste discharges into Connoquenessing Creek, as much as 29,000 pounds/day, causing dangerously high concentrations of nitrate.

The creek is a major drinking water source for the city of Zelienople. EPA said nitrate levels often have been 10 times above the national standard of 10 mg/l, and peaked at 175 mg/l on Oct. 26, 1999.

EPA said Glenn Kelly Johnson, owner of Johnson Properties Inc., which operates more than 200 wastewater treatment facilities in seven southern states, has been sentenced to three years imprisonment and three years probation in U.S. District Court in New Orleans. He also was ordered to pay a $500,000 fine and $250,000 in restitution to homeowners.

Johnson previously pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate the Clean Water Act and to obstruction of justice by offering a former employee money to lie to federal investigators about false discharge monitoring reports.

From 1991-1998, Johnson allegedly failed to properly maintain wastewater treatment facilities and diverted customers' fees for his personal use.

EPA said South Bay Utilities Inc., of Sarasota County, Fla., and its president Paul L. Paver, have pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court at Tampa to discharging inadequately treated sewage directly into Dryman Bay.

Under the plea agreement, South Bay Utilities will pay a $315,000 fine, pay $309,000 to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection Ecosystem Management and Restoration Trust Fund, and pay $400,000 to the Sarasota County Pollution Recovery Trust Fund. Paver will pay a $205,000 fine, plus $250,000 to the Middle District of Florida Environmental Restitution Trust Fund.