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EPA Adopts 'Peak Weather Flows' Policy Suggested by Environmental, Utility Groups
The Environmental Protection Agency announced a proposed "peak weather flows" policy Dec. 19 that would require wastewater treatment plants to seek regulatory permission before blending untreated and treated sewage when it rains heavily.
"Our peak flow policy puts a premium on stopping leaks and
spills, improving treatment, and increasing public oversight," Benjamin
Grumbles, EPA's assistant administrator for water, told reporters during a Dec.
19 teleconference.
In the coming days, Grumbles said, EPA will publish the proposal in the Federal
Register, which will open a 30-day comment period on the proposal. EPA did not
specify which day the proposal would appear.
The EPA proposal ends months of uncertainty among wastewater utilities. EPA was
forced to shelve its 2003 draft policy in May just hours before House lawmakers
threatened to adopt an amendment to the EPA spending bill, barring the agency
from expending any resources toward implementing the policy (97 DEN A-1,
05/20/05 ). Since November, wastewater utilities have been pushing EPA to
clarify the circumstances under which blending could be allowed.
Blending takes place at municipal treatment plants during heavy rain downpours
because the volume of water entering a municipal treatment plant is more than a
plant's biological treatment capacity can handle. In such cases, a portion of
wastewater is rerouted after primary treatment, when solids are removed, around
the secondary biological treatment system, where pathogens are killed and
pollutants are removed, and then mixed with treated wastewater and discharged
into lakes and streams.
EPA's "peak weather flows" policy applies to sanitary sewer systems that treat
sewage from surrounding municipalities. The policy "reflects" the joint blending
guidance that the National Association of Clean Water Agencies and the Natural
Resources Defense Council developed after five months of negotiations for
sanitary sewer systems, Grumbles said (208 DEN A-1, 10/28/05 ).
Guidance Requires Detailed Reasons
Based on the joint guidance, the agency's new wet weather policy requires that
wastewater utilities submit to regulators as part of their permit-renewal
process a detailed list of reasons for blending treated and semi-treated
wastewater during heavy rains. In addition, the policy requires that the
appropriate environmental regulator--be it local, state, or federal--review and
approve the documents submitted by the utilities.
The policy also requires that regulators keep the blending documents and the
permit applications open to public review. It also urges wastewater utilities to
notify the appropriate regulator each time they blend and how much of partially
and fully treated wastewater flows they blend.
The proposed policy spells out limited circumstances under which wastewater
diversions around a secondary treatment process are allowed in sanitary sewer
systems. EPA specifies that a wastewater facility should have "no feasible
alternatives" to diversion, the diverted waters receive a minimum of primary
treatment, and the resulting wastewater discharges meet applicable effluent
limits based on secondary treatment.
"Inadequate capacity" at wastewater facilities would no longer be an
"approvable" reason for blending, said Nancy Stoner, NRDC's clean water project
director, who also was present during the call.
Once EPA's peak weather flows policy is adopted, Grumbles said, the guidance
would benefit 150 million people who are served by 15,582 municipal sanitary
sewer systems.
The agency's proposed policy to allow limited diversions of wastewater around
biological treatment processes during "peak wet weather" would help prevent
discharges of raw sewage into the nation's lakes, streams, and rivers; sewage
backups in homes and other buildings; or damage to biological treatment units at
existing wastewater treatment plants, EPA said in its Dec. 19 release.
Sewage System Aging
Grumbles emphasized, however, that "blending is not a long-term solution" for
addressing the growing problem of aging wastewater facilities.
"[This policy] is an important part of an overall effort to tackle water
pollution," Grumbles said in response to a question about the importance of the
Dec. 19 policy.
Grumbles acknowledged that many other water pollution challenges remain and this
guidance was by no means the panacea for all water-related issues. EPA remains
committed to enforcing illegal discharges of sanitary sewer overflows and
combined sewer overflows, he added.
Alexandra Dunn, NACWA's general counsel who also was present during the call,
put in a plug for a bill (H.R. 4650), which Rep. John Duncan (R-Tenn.)
introduced Dec. 16, that creates a Clean Water Trust Fund for upgrading aging
wastewater systems. NACWA actively lobbied Congress for the creation of such a
bill (242 DEN A-4, 12/19/05 ).
Policy Inapplicable to Combined Sewer Overflows
But EPA's peak weather policy would not apply to the most aging municipal
treatment plants, which were built until the earliest part of the 20th century
to receive raw sewage, industrial waste, and stormwater in a single, combined
sewer pipe.
According to Grumbles, combined sewer systems are found at nearly 1,000
municipal sewage treatment plants in roughly 750 communities across the nation.
EPA's 2004 report notes that most combined sewer systems are found in the Great
Lakes and communities of the Northeast, including Chicago and New York City,
where overflows from combined sewers are among the causes identified for beach
closures and water quality impairment.
EPA already regulates combined sewer systems via its 1994 combined sewer policy
that Congress incorporated in Section 402 of the Clean Water Act, Grumbles said.
Grumbles said NACWA and NRDC have shown that collaboration can achieve results.
He said NACWA and NRDC have shown that "two groups with different policies" can
achieve a common goal of clean water.
Dunn said she hopes EPA's Dec. 19 proposal will "raise public confidence in
publicly owned treatment works in the country" and end the political impasse
over the subject.
For questions about EPA's proposed policy on permit requirements for peak
weather flows, contact Kevin Weiss at (202) 564-0742, or
weiss.kevin@epa.gov. EPA's proposed
policy and additional information are available at
http://www.epa.gov/npdes/wetweather/.
By Amena H. Saiyid