Regulations that Protect Clean Water

Regulations that Protect Clean Water

Jocelyn Mullen, P.E.

PART 3 OF PRESENTATION

Presented at

The Water Course

January 27, 2010Mesa County Water Association

Clean Water ActClean Water Act

Total Maximum Daily Loads

Antidegradation

Nonpoint Source Program

Develop Strategies to Attain and Maintain Water Quality Standards

• §303(d) - Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs)

• §320 - National Estuary Program– Comprehensive Conservation and

Management Plan

• Other holistic watershed-based strategies

§303(d) Process: Establishing TMDLs

A TMDL. . . . • Is a strategy for achieving WQS

• Is based on the relationship between pollutant sources and the condition of a waterbody

• Describes an allowable load and allocates it among several sources

Pollution

• The man-made or man-The man-made or man-induced alteration of the induced alteration of the chemical, physical, biological chemical, physical, biological and radiological integrity of and radiological integrity of the water the water

CWA Section 502(14)CWA Section 502(14)

TMDLs

• Amount of a specific pollutant that a waterbody can receive and assimilate and still meet water quality standards

• States and tribes are required to develop TMDLs for waters on their §303(d) lists

• TMDLs are approved or disapproved by EPA; if disapproved, EPA develops the TMDL

TMDL Definition

TMDL =WLAi + LAi + MOS WLAi: Sum of waste loads (point sources)

where i=1 to n

LAi: Sum of loads (nonpoint sources)

MOS: Margin of Safety

- Extra measure of protection due to uncertainty

- Can be explicit (e.g., 10%) or implicit (safety factors and assumptions in modeling, etc.)

i=1

WQS: Antidegradation

• Purpose: Prevent deterioration of existing levels of good water quality

• Two basic rules apply to all high- quality waters

• More stringent rules apply to specially designated waters

Nonpoint Source ProgramNonpoint Source Program

CWA Section 319

State NPS Management Programs• States, territories, and tribes• Identify waters impaired or

threatened by nonpoint sources • Short- (< 5 years) and long-term

goals for NPS program• Identify key categories of NPS:

estimate total loadings from each category

• Best management practices useful with each key category

CWA Point Source Programs

Stormwater Programs

Section 404 Program

CWA Point Source Programs

Stormwater Programs

Section 404 Program

Municipal Wet Weather Flows

MS4/CSO Permits: Special Features

• System-wide permits rather than outfall-by-outfall

• Often no end-of-pipe pollutant limits, but may be included

• Application of various types of BMPs required

• Strategic plans for addressing problems required– Opportunity for public input– Links to land use issues

MS4s

Sanitary Sewer

MS4

MS4s: Permit Conditions • Eliminate non-storm water discharges to storm

sewer system• Implement program to reduce runoff from

industrial, commercial, and residential areas to "maximum extent practicable" (MEP)

• No specific EPA regulations defining MEP: permit-by-permit

• Implement program to control discharges from new development and redevelopment areas

Industrial Storm Water

• Facilities with effluent limits

• Manufacturing• Mineral, metal, oil,

gas• Hazardous waste

facilities• Steam electric

plants

• Construction disturbing > 1 acre

• Recycling facilities• Transportation• Treatment works• Landfills• Light industry

Sediment and Erosion During Construction

• Until March 10, 2003, applies to projects disturbing more than 5 acres

• After that date, applies to construction affecting 1 or more acres

• Permits to include controls on S&E (through BMPs) during and after construction if it is part of a larger permitted project

Threats to Ground WaterThreats to Ground Water

Underground Injection Control Program• Designed to protect underground

sources of drinking water

• Very much a water pollution control program– Addresses ground water, which is

typically not protected by the CWA

What is an Underground Injection Well?

• WellWell: A bored, drilled, or driven shaft, or a dug

well or dug hole where the depth is greater than the

largest surface dimension; or an improved

sinkhole; or a subsurface distribution system

• Underground injectionUnderground injection: Subsurface

emplacement of fluids through a well

Sou

rce:

GW

PC

Types of Injection Wells:

• Type I : Inject hazardous wastes, industrial non-hazardous liquids, or municipal wastewater beneath the lowermost USDW

• Type II : Inject brines and other fluids associated with oil and gas production, and hydrocarbons for storage. They inject beneath the lowermost USDW.

• Type III : Inject fluids associated with solution mining of minerals beneath the lowermost USDW.

• Type IV : Inject hazardous or radioactive wastes into or above USDWs. These wells are banned unless authorized under a federal or state ground water remediation project.

• Type V : Class V wells inject non-hazardous fluids into or above USDWs and are typically shallow, on-site disposal systems

Class V Wells

Source: Ohio EPA

Industrial Facility

CommercialDrainageAreas

Service StationRepair Bay

Residential Areas

Agricultural Drainage Well

Septic Tank Treatment Plant

Mineral & Fossil Fuel Recovery

Improved Sinkhole

Fractured Bedrock

IndustrialProcessWaterandWaste DisposalWell

Sandstone

Limestone

Heat PumpAir Conditioning Return FlowSystem

Agricultural Areas

Specific ExclusionsSpecific Exclusions• Injection wells on drilling platforms or Injection wells on drilling platforms or

elsewhere beyond State’s territorial waterselsewhere beyond State’s territorial waters

• Individual or single-family residential Individual or single-family residential waste disposal systems (cesspools or waste disposal systems (cesspools or septic systems)septic systems)

• Non-residential cesspools or septic Non-residential cesspools or septic systems if receive only sanitary waste and systems if receive only sanitary waste and serve < 20 people per dayserve < 20 people per day

Specific ExclusionsSpecific Exclusions

• Wells used for injection of gas Wells used for injection of gas hydrocarbons for storagehydrocarbons for storage

• Dug holes not used for subsurface fluid Dug holes not used for subsurface fluid emplacementemplacement

Manmade Water Management SystemsManmade Water Management Systems

Drinking Water-Wastewater Interaction

Water Treatment

Water Resource Protection

Pretreatment

• Applies to POTWs >5 MGD– Objective: Prevent upset, pass-through,

sludge contamination from incoming toxics– Prohibits discharge of explosive, highly

flammable, and extremely corrosive substances into municipal sewers

– Oversight of compliance of indirect dischargers with EPA-issued tech-based limits (categorical)

– Local limits addressing additional problems, including meeting WQ-based limits for POTWs

Sludge (aka Biosolids)Sludge (aka Biosolids)

Municipal Sewage Sludge (Section 503)

• EPA regulations dealing with disposal and use of sewage sludge

• Addresses toxics, pathogens, and vectors• Generators, processors, disposers, and

users usually need a permit• Sludge disposal

– Monofills– Mixed municipal solid waste

landfills (RCRA)– Land application,

impoundments and lagoons– Incineration (CAA)

Beneficial Sludge Uses

• Agriculture and forest land

• Parks and golf courses

• Land reclamation sites

• Home gardens and lawns

Domestic Septage

• Septage - liquid or solid removed from a septic tank, cesspool, portable toilet

• 40 CFR Part 503 rules imposed if septage is applied to land with high human contact potential– Parks, ballfields, cemeteries, plant

nurseries, golf courses• Less burdensome requirements

imposed if septage is appliedto nonpublic contact sites– Agricultural land, forests,

reclamation sites

CWA Section 401CWA Section 401

Oversight of Federal Permitting

Section 401: Oversight of Federal Permitting

• Coverage– EPA-issued NPDES permits– FERC licensing of dams– Section 404 permits

• No federal permit or license issued without state certification that authorized activity is consistent with attainment of WQS– Downstream States and authorized Tribes also have

section 401 leverage

• Certification often issued with conditions– Vegetated buffer areas, BMPs, wetland restoration,

modified hydrodam operations