Proposal Would add Tougher Rules for Livestock Operations

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has published a proposal to tighten regulatory controls on the management of waste from concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs). The proposal also would expand new and existing regulations to include smaller livestock farms.

The agency estimates that about 376,000 livestock operations of all sizes exist nationwide and generate about 128 billion pounds per year of manure from the raising of beef and dairy cattle, hogs, and chickens. EPA's proposal would expand the number of operations subject to permitting regulations as CAFOs under the Clean Water Act from the current 2,500 to as many as 39,000 facilities.

Under existing regulations, a CAFO is defined as having 1,000 or more cattle or equivalent "animal units" of other livestock; smaller operations also may be designated as CAFOs if they pose a threat to water quality. The new proposal presents two options for redefining CAFOs. One alternative would include facilities with more than 500 cattle or other animal units; the other would include operations with as few as 300 cattle or other animal units if certain risk-based conditions were present.

The proposal also would add several new requirements for CAFOs:

• Poultry, veal, and swine operations would be required to prevent all discharges from storage pits and lagoons in which animal wastes are collected.
• Permit exemptions allowed in some states would be eliminated, ensuring that all large livestock operations would have to obtain permits.
• EPA and the states would issue co-permits for corporations and contract growers to ensure that sufficient financial resources exist to meet the requirements. (The National Chicken Council, a Washington, D.C.-based industry association, responded to the proposal with a statement asserting that the co-permitting requirement would force poultry-industry companies "to consider whether they wish to continue placing chickens on independent farms or shift production to company-owned facilities. The regulations thus pose a threat to the continued viability of many thousands of independent family farms.")
• Land application of manure at livestock facilities regulated under the rule would be restricted to protect waterways from polluted runoff.

The proposal was published in the Federal Register in January, when a 120-day public comment period began. A prepublication version of the proposal is available at http://www.epa.gov/owm/afo.htm.

EPA Sets Water Criteria For Nutrients, Methylmercury

For the first time, the Environmental Protection Agency is setting water quality criteria which serve as recommendations to states and tribes for water quality standards for nutrients, including nitrogen and phosphorous. States are expected to adopt or revise their nutrient standards by 2004, based on the new criteria.

The new criteria are expected to significantly reduce nutrients in the nation's waterways. In a 1998 water quality report to Congress, nutrients were listed as a leading cause of water pollution. About half of the nation's waters surveyed by states do not adequately support aquatic life because of excess nutrients. In 1998, states reported that excessive nutrients have degraded almost 3.5 million acres of lakes and reservoirs and over 84,000 miles of rivers and streams to the point where they no longer meet basic uses such as supporting healthy aquatic life.

EPA also released a new standard for methylmercury, the form of mercury that is found in contaminated fish. Toxic methylmercury is taken up by plant and aquatic life and accumulates in the fish which can be consumed by humans. Methylmercury is toxic to the nervous system.

This is the first water quality criterion for methylmercury under the Clean Water Act. It is to be used by states in determining methylmercury levels in fish tissue. The criteria are based on a new risk assessment (a reference dose) that EPA has developed in response to last summer's recommendation by the National Academy of Sciences. Both the new criteria and the new reference dose are based on updated scientific data on environmental fate and human health effects of methylmercury.

Additional information is available at EPA's Office of Water website at: http://www.epa.gov/ost/criteria/methylmercury and http://www.epa.gov/ost/standards/nutrient.html.

Report to Congress Examines Water Threats to Sensitive Groups

EPA has released a report to Congress on its "Studies on Sensitive Subpopulations and Drinking Water Contaminants" that discusses such concerns as the sensitivity of children to waterborne pathogens and the possible link between disinfection byproducts and miscarriages among pregnant women.

The report is the first of its kind on the status, results and future directions of studies conducted by EPA to identify and characterize subpopulations that may be at greater risk from exposure to drinking water contaminants than the general population.

Sensitive subpopulations are defined as groups who respond biologically at lower levels of exposure to a contaminant in drinking water or who have more serious health consequences than the general population. EPA is conducting a program of studies to identify such groups -- which may include infants, children, pregnant women, the elderly, or individuals with a history of chronic illness -- and to evaluate whether and to what degree they are likely to experience elevated health risks.

According to the report, infants and children may be more sensitive than the general population to waterborne pathogens. This is consistent with data collected on the demographics of foodborne illnesses, but the data from waterborne disease outbreaks in the U.S. are less conclusive. The results of several epidemiology studies and surveys that are currently underway should provide information on the risks that pathogens in drinking water pose to infants, children, and other age groups.

Individuals with pre-existing disease, particularly those with weakened immune systems, are known to be at increased risk to opportunistic pathogens such as Cryptosporidium. EPA is conducting research in the laboratory and field to further evaluate the impact of immune status on sensitivity to these agents.

Studies conducted by EPA and others also have raised concerns about the potential risk for miscarriages and other adverse reproductive outcomes following the exposure of pregnant women to DBPs.

A 1998 study in California, funded in part by EPA, revealed an association between exposure to high levels of trihalomethanes and the incidence of miscarriage. The potential for DBPs to cause adverse reproductive outcomes was also examined in an EPA-funded study in Colorado, in which the authors reported an association between high trihalomethane levels and low birth weight. These studies and a small number of other published reports have provided some clues suggesting that fetuses could be sensitive to DBP-induced toxic effects.

EPA research has also shown that exposure of laboratory animals to high levels of certain pesticides can cause adverse developmental effects. Current laboratory research on pesticide modes of action, along with epidemiology studies of childhood sensitivity to pesticides, will contribute to a better understanding of the potential risks of these contaminants to subpopulations of special concern.

In studies to evaluate the health effects of sulfate, EPA researchers and collaborators found that piglets (as a model for human infants) and previously unexposed adults were not particularly sensitive to the effects of this contaminant in drinking water.

Rule Sets Discharge Standards for Centralized Waste Treatment Facilities

EPA has published effluent limitation guidelines and standards for discharges from centralized waste treatment facilities. The rules apply to discharges from facilities that accept for treatment or recovery hazardous or nonhazardous industrial wastes, wastewater, or used materials generated offsite. In some cases, this may include discharges from industrial plants that treat their own process wastewaters along with other materials generated offsite.

The new rules also adds 10 semivolatile organic pollutants to EPA Method 625 and six semivolatile organic pollutants to EPA Method 1625 (40 CFR 136; "Guidelines Establishing Test Procedures for the Analysis of Pollutants"). The rules became effective Jan. 22.

"Existing direct dischargers must comply with limitations based on the best practicable technology currently available, the best conventional pollutant control technology, and the best available technology economically achievable as soon as their National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System ... permits [include] such limitations," the rulemaking notice states.

"Existing indirect dischargers subject to [the new] regulations must comply with the pretreatment standards for existing sources no later than Dec. 22, 2003. New direct and indirect discharging sources must comply with applicable guidelines and standards on the date [they] begin discharging."

For details, see the rulemaking notice at http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/EPA-WATER/2000/December/Day-22/w24565.htm.

Authority Agrees To Fine, Upgrades

The Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority (PRASA) has agreed to a consent decree that requires PRASA to pay a total cash penalty of $550,000 and implement two supplemental environmental projects (SEPs) to settle violations of the Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act.

The Justice Department had alleged that PRASA) had been violating the Clean Water Act by discharging wastewater from 23 of its drinking water treatment plants in excess of the effluent limitations. The complaint also alleged that PRASA failed to provide filtration of the surface waters it uses to supply drinking water to 20 of its public water systems in violation of the Surface Water Treatment Rule.

The two SEPs involve the connection of two non-PRASA drinking water systems, which currently do not have filtered water, to one of PRASA's public water systems that receives filtered drinking water. The estimated cost of these two SEPs is $490,600.

With regard to the PRASA drinking water treatment plants violating the CWA, the Consent Decree requires PRASA to achieve compliance in accordance with schedules for individual plants which vary from two to four years in duration. As to the PRASA public water systems that have not achieved compliance with the SWTR, the Consent Decree requires PRASA to remedy its noncompliance by constructing filtration facilities, connecting public water systems to other PRASA public water systems that have filtration plants, or installing groundwater well systems in lieu of the use of unfiltered surface water supplies.

The completion dates in the SDWA compliance schedules for individual public water systems are in 2000-2002.

Utility Superintendent Charged with CWA Violations

Andrew Bronson, the Superintendent of Wastewater Utility Division in Juneau, Alaska, has been indicted for allegedly tampering with effluent samples from the Mendenhall Wastewater Treatment Facility in 1998. As a result, inaccurate levels were allegedly reported on facility Discharge Monitoring Reports (DMRs) that were submitted to EPA as required by the Clean Water Act.

If convicted, Bronson faces a maximum of up to two years imprisonment and/or a fine of not more than $10,000. The case was investigated by EPA's Criminal Investigation Division and the FBI and is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Alaska.