Only certified or trained applicators will be allowed to use chlorine gas in water and sewage treatment applications if a recent proposal from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is enacted.
The measure is designed to reduce the risk of serious accidents and fatalities among applicators using chlorine. The action follows on the heels of EPA's February 1999 announcement for chlorine gas, which restricted the majority of uses to trained and certified applicators. At the time, the water treatment industry was exempted from the rules. After considering comments from several trade groups, state governments, universities and individuals, EPA decided to propose that the restricted use classification should apply to all antimicrobial uses of chlorine gas.
EPA wants to list chlorine used for water disinfection as a "restricted use pesticide." Some existing state water treatment certification programs may provide adequate training for chlorine-use certification. Others will need to adopt new training programs, the agency said.
"The Agency considers the additional regulatory burden on the states and industry to be reasonable based on chlorine's high acute toxicity and review of the available incident information," according to the Federal Register statement.
EPA is accepting public comment on the revised chlorine gas decision, but comments must be received by Nov. 15. The Federal Register notice on chlorine gas was published on Sept. 18, and is at: http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr.
Water System Owners Face Personal Liability
In an unprecedented decision, a U.S. district judge recently granted motions under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act against several family-owned Monterey County drinking water companies that hold the owners personally liable for endangering the health of more than 20,000 local residents.
The alleged violations are against Robert and Natholyn (Patricia) Adcock and the 11 drinking water supply systems that they own in Monterey County, the largest of which, Alco, serves 18,000 people in Salinas.
The decision marks the first time in the country that the corporate owners of a drinking water system have been found personally liable for violations under the public water system provisions of the Safe Drinking Water Act. The Adcocks could face fines up to $27,500 per day per violation.
The case, filed in the U.S. District Court in San Jose in 1997 on behalf of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, alleges that the defendants deliberately falsified lab reports for public water systems submitted to the state and Monterey County from 1991 through 1994 in order to hide violations.
On Aug. 23, the court issued an order granting three government motions, which included:
- Liability of corporate defendants for bacteriological violations;
- liability of corporate defendants for lead and copper violations;
- liability of the individual defendants for both bacteriological and lead and copper violations.
"Customers of these Adcock-owned systems faced a health risk when bacteria was detected in their water supply. They faced another risk when the Adcocks hid these violations from state and county health officials," said John Rothman, senior attorney for the EPA's Pacific Southwest Office. "Public water systems must not be allowed to make unilateral decisions about public health."
New EPA Guidelines Target Onsite/Decentralized Systems
EPA has released for comment a draft of its Guidelines for Management of Onsite/Decentralized Wastewater Systems and an outline for a guidance manual that will be developed to supplement the guidelines.
In April 1997, EPA prepared a "Response to Congress on the Use of Decentralized Wastewater Treatment Systems." The report concluded that alternative treatment technologies offer a cost-effective, long term wastewater solution for many communities. However, the report emphasized that these ``decentralized'' (onsite and small cluster) technologies must be implemented in the context of a responsible management program to consistently achieve water quality and public health goals. The report identified the current lack of management as a barrier to successfully applying these otherwise promising technologies.
The development of management standards for decentralized wastewater treatment systems was included in the Clean Water Action Plan (CWAP) as Action Item 77B. In fulfillment of this action item, EPA prepared a concept paper in the spring of 1999, which gradually was developed into a set of voluntary national guidelines for the management of onsite and decentralized wastewater systems.
Onsite/decentralized systems currently serve about 25 percent of the U.S. population and approximately 40 percent of new development.
The vast majority of these systems are conventional onsite wastewater systems (septic systems). States report that these wastewater systems have failed because of inappropriate siting or design or inadequate long-term maintenance, and that septic tank systems constitute the third most common source of ground water contamination.
EPA is proposing the voluntary national guidelines in order to raise the quality of management programs, establish minimum levels of activity, and institutionalize the concept of management. The Agency hopes the guidelines will provide a greater range of options for meeting wastewater needs and water quality and public health goals.
The guidelines contain a set of model programs that are structured to reflect a need for more comprehensive management as the sensitivity of the environment and/or the degree of technological complexity increases. A program's designation increases progressively from Model Program 1 through Model Program 5, reflecting the increased level of management activities needed to achieve water quality goals.
The guidelines would apply to both existing communities and to areas of new development that use onsite/decentralized systems of any size for residential and commercial wastewater treatment and disposal.
The final guidelines will be accompanied by a guidance manual. An outline of this guidance manual is also available for review and comment. The final manual will provide details on assessing, developing, implementing, and sustaining a viable management program. The guidelines for management and the accompanying guidance manual are scheduled for completion in the Summer of 2001.
Changes Sought For Pretreatment Programs
EPA is proposing changes to the National Pretreatment Program regulations to allow Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTWs) participating in Project XL to modify their programs. Several of the POTWs want to implement local pretreatment programs with effectiveness measured against environmental results rather than strict adherence to programmatic and administrative measures.
Currently, five POTWs are actively involved in Project XL. In some cases, the systems want to pilot test new ideas that focus resources on activities that they believe would provide greater environmental benefits than are achieved by complying with current regulatory requirements.
In the June 23, 1998, Federal Register (63 FR 6113-6), EPA requested proposals for XL projects from POTWs based on environmental performance measures for the pretreatment program.
Participating POTWs will need to submit revised pretreatment programs for approval and obtain modified permits to authorize the POTW to implement its pilot program instead of its currently approved pretreatment program. In addition, the affected states may first need to revise their own regulations or statutes to authorize the pilot programs for pretreatment XL project sponsors before this rule can be implemented in their jurisdictions.
