Title: Promoting Voluntary Efforts to Reduce Dental Mercury Releases to Wastewater Mark McMillan Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment October 29, 2004
1Promoting Voluntary Effortsto Reduce Dental
Mercury Releasesto WastewaterMark
McMillanColorado Department of Public Health and
EnvironmentOctober 29, 2004
2Objectives
- Why this project, this place?
- Project phases
- Applying project results statewide
3Why this project, this place?
- March 2002 - Enforcement action against CFI
Steel (dba Rocky Mountain Steel Mills) - 1,800,000 penalty largely applied to
Pueblo-based Supplemental Environmental Projects
(SEPs) - 500,000 Community-Based Projects
- 500,000 Alternative Energy Projects
- 500,000 Mercury Removal Projects
- (300,000 Civil Penalty)
4Why this project, this place?
- Mercury Removal Projects
- 400,000 Mercury Switch Removal Project
http//www.cdphe.state.co.us/hm/mercury/mercuryho
m.asp - 100,000 Other Pueblo-Based Mercury Pollution
Prevention Projects
5Why this project, this place?
- Interest and support from CDPHE Water Quality
Control Division - Hg in surface water can bioaccumulate in fish
tissue, posing risk to wildlife and humans that
eat contaminated fish - 41 states, including Colorado, have issued
fish-advisories due to Hg contamination - POTWs may face increasing challenges meeting new,
lowered discharge limits for Hg (due to new EPA
standard test method)
6Why this project, this place?
- Dentists are a known source of Hg discharges to
wastewater in Colorado - An Evaluation of the Source Impacts and Control
of Mercury. Al Garcia, Littleton-Englewood
Wastewater Treatment Plant, 2002. - Dental Hg releases to wastewater can be minimized
through best management practices - Pueblo-based pilot project results may be
transferable throughout the stateProject
funding 50,000
7Project Phases
- Phase 1 Dental Survey/Data Collection
- Phase 2 Focused Outreach Effort
- Phase 3 Measurement of Project Value
and Success
8Phase 1 Dental Survey/ Data Collection
- Survey Purpose To assess the use of BMP and BAT
among Pueblo dentists, and to identify areas for
outreach and improvement - Survey results are summarized inDental Mercury
Pollution PreventionPhase I Summary Report,
Tetra Tech EMI Inc., February 2004.
9Phase 1 Dental Survey/ Data Collection
- December 2003 Survey mailed to 59 dentists at
51 practices in Pueblo that either use or remove
mercury-containing amalgam - Survey Response Rate
- 41 out of 59 dentists responded (69)
- 40 out of 51 practices responded (78)
10Phase 1 Dental Survey Results
11Phase 1 Dental Survey Results
12Mercury Amalgam Separators (The Hg5? Mercury
Amalgam Separator System by SolmeteX Inc)
- Typically designed for in-line installation
between the chair-side water drain and vacuum
pump. - Removes particles through physical and chemical
processes, including sedimentation,
centrifugation, filtration, and ion exchange. - Must be at least 96 efficient to be ISO
certified. - Required by law in Maine. Under consideration in
seven other states. - Typical cost 500 - 7,500(Ref. Journal of ADA)
13Phase 1 Dental Survey/ Data
Collection
- American Dental Association
- Best Management Practices for Amalgam Waste,
February 2003 - Amalgam should not be disposed of in the
garbage, infectious waste red bag, or sharps
container. because some communities incinerate
municipal garbage, medical waste, and sludge from
wastewater treatment plants. - ADA strongly recommends recycling as a primary
best management practice
14Phase 1 Dental Survey Results
15Phase 1 Dental Survey Results
16Phase 1 Dental Survey Results
17Phase 1 Dental Survey Results
18Phase 1 Dental Survey Results
19Phase 2 Focused Outreach
- Dental Hg Fact Sheet
- Panel Seminar
- Increased Involvement by the Colorado Dental
Association (CDA)
20Phase 2 Dental Hg Fact Sheet
- Regulatory Outlook for Pueblo Dentists
- Mercury Amalgam Separators
- Vendors, Operation/Maintenance, Cost
- Mercury Recycling
- Recyclers, Materials, Methods, Cost
- BMP Scorecard
21Phase 2 Panel Seminar
- May 18, 2004 at Pueblo City-County Library
- Agenda
- Welcome and Introduction by CDA
- Regulatory Outlook for Pueblo Dentists
- Mercury Amalgam Separators
- Vendors, types of separators, installation
considerations, operation/maintenance - Mercury Recycling
- Vendors, types of recyclables, how to implement a
recycling program - Breakout Session
22Phase 3 Measurement of Project Value and Success
- Follow-up Survey to Pueblo Dentists May 2004
- Final Summary Report - August 2004
- Summary of Project Results BMPs/BATs
implemented, Hg releases prevented, life cycle of
Hg captured - Lessons Learned Barriers to amalgam separator
implementation - Recommendations for project improvement
- Recommendations for statewide implementation
- Project Follow-up 2005
23Overall Conclusions From Dental P2 Effort
- Surveys Useful for Gauging Interest, Gathering
Information - Dentists Thought Fact Sheet, BMP Insert, Meetings
Worthwhile - Voluntary Programs May Limit Need for Regulations
- Voluntary Programs Allow Participants to
Customize Their Role - Efforts Transferable
24Applying Project Results Statewide
- Pueblo pilot project is a first-step in providing
compliance assistance to Colorado POTWs charged
with meeting new, lowered discharge permit limits
for Hg. - Outreach materials, including dental fact-sheet,
vendor information, and panel seminar materials,
will be made transferable through out the state. - Outreach materials and ongoing summary reports
available at http//www.cdphe.state.co.us/hm/
mercury/dental.asp
25Comments/Questions/Ideas?
- Contact
- Mark McMillanCDPHE Mercury Programmark.mcmillan_at_
state.co.us, 303-692-3140 - Rick KoplitzWater Quality Control Division,
CDPHE rick.koplitz_at_state.co.us ,303-692-3618 - Paul Cozetta Water Quality Control, City of
Pueblo pcozzetta_at_pueblo.us, 729-544-3453