Water Opportunities

1
Water Opportunities Challenges Ken
WoodDuPont Company

• EPA/SOCMA Specialty-Batch Chemical Sector
• Environmental Forum
• September 4-5, 2002

2
General Context of Water Discharges at SOCMA
Facilities

• Process Wastewater
• Pretreatment per categorical standards/local
  limits
• Indirect Discharge to POTW through
  municipal/regional sewer
• Other Wastewater Sources/Discharges
• Domestic/Sanitary to municipal sewer
• Cooling Water to sewer or receiving stream
• Storm Water to sewer or receiving stream

3
SOCMA Water Discharge- Regulatory Drivers

• Categorical Pretreatment Standards
• General Federal Pretreatment Requirements
• Local Sewer Ordinances
• SPCC Plan Requirements
• NPDES Stormwater Permits - General, Specific,
  BMPs
• TRI Water Emissions reporting
• CERCLA Reportable Quantities
• Pending 316(b) Cooling Water Intake Regulation?

4
Surface Water Regulations/Permitting

• Surface Water issues are important to SOCMA
  members as major driver for future effluent
  limitations
• However, member facilities are generally
  indirectly impacted -- when surface WQ issues
  affect POTWs to which they discharge wastewater
• Therefore, SOCMA typically monitors following
  types of issues through coalitions (FWQC) or ACC
  rather than actively participating in stakeholder
  groups
• Watershed Rule/TMDLs
• Water Quality/Sediment Criteria and Standards
• Effluent Trading

5
Issue 1 - Overlap of Effluent Guideline - Point
Source Categories

• Many SOCMA members operate multi-purpose batch
  facilities potentially subject to more than 1
  industrial point source category based on
  product mix
• Industrial Category 40 CFR Part
• Organic Chemicals (OCPSF) 414 416
• Pharmaceuticals 439
• Pesticides Manuf/Formulation 455
• Others?

6
Pharmaceutical Effluent Guidelines (EGs)

• Several SOCMA plants manufacture multi-use
  products that are sold for use as FDA-regulated
  including pharmaceutical active ingredients
• Pharma EGs (part 439) covers these multiple
  end-use products including chemical intermediates
  intended for use in pharma applications

7
Pharmaceutical Effluent Guidelines (EGs)

• EPA addressed this overlap at some SOCMA
  facilities where pharma products and
  intermediates also are subject to OCPSF (part
  414) by
• Exclusion from Pharma Effluent Guidelines if flow
  from those products is lt50 of the total process
  wastewater regulated by part 414

8
Issues Remain at Other Multiple Industrial
Categorical Standard Facilities

• Multi-purpose batch facilities where product mix
  and relative percentage of wastewater flow varies
• Some pharma products are not multi-use and
  uniquely for that industry

9
Issues Remain at Other Multiple Industrial
Categorical Standard Facilities

• Plants that manufacture and/or formulate
  pesticide products covered by part 455 as well as
  chemicals under part 414
• Plants with low wastewater flow (lt25,000 gpd)
  that could otherwise be considered
  Non-Significant Industrial Users (re
  Streamlining issue)

10
Further Guidance Needed for Pretreatment Control
Authorities

• Preambles and specifics of applicability criteria
  are not generally accessible and available to
  local control authorities that regulate small,
  specialty-batch chemical plants

11
Further Guidance Needed for Pretreatment Control
Authorities

• Additional specific guidance and examples to
  assist permit writers esp. for multiple
  industrial category facilities is needed which
  could be met by
• EPAs Local Limits Development Guidance Manual
  currently undergoing revision/updating
• Updating EPAs Guidance Manual for the Use of
  Production-based Pretreatment Standards and
  Combined Waste Stream Formula published in 1985

12
Issue 2 - General Pretreatment Requirements
Streamlining

• EPA proposed streamlining several provisions in
  40 CFR Part 403 - General Pretreatment
  Requirements 3 years ago (7/22/99 Federal
  Register)
• SOCMA supported this streamlining effort and
  provided comments on November 19, 1999.
• Some comments dealt with specific situations
  involving batch processes/discharges and their
  variable nature
• Examples are ...

13
General Pretreatment Requirement Low pH
Prohibition

• pH discharges below pH 5.0 are currently not
  allowed unless POTW is specifically designed to
  accommodate
• EPA proposed to allow POTWs to discharge
  wastewater temporarily below pH 5.0 provided
  technical evaluation supports

14
General Pretreatment Requirement Low pH
Prohibition

• SOCMA members would benefit due to variable
  nature of discharges from batch operations and
  support allowing POTWs to have greater
  flexibility to set short-term limits even below
  pH 4 if evaluation indicates it is acceptable

15
General Pretreatment Requirement- Equivalent
Concentration Limits

• Most SOCMA member discharges are covered under
  OCPSF regulations that require concentration-based
  standards be converted to mass-based limits
• EPA proposed that equivalent concentration limits
  be allowed for facilities that have highly
  variable flow
• This provision would benefit small,
  specialty-batch operations that inherently
  generate highly variable volumes of wastewater

16
General Pretreatment Requirement- Definition of
Categorical Industrial User

• Current definition of Significant Industrial User
  (SIU) includes all categorical dischargers
  (CIUs)
• EPA has proposed flexibility to allow POTWs to
  exempt non-significant CIUs from the definition
  of SIU

17
General Pretreatment Requirement- Definition of
Categorical Industrial User

• SOCMA supports this proposal except that the
  proposed flow ceiling of 100 gpd is too low and
  will provide virtually no regulatory relief to
  dischargers
• SOCMA recommends that the flow ceiling be raised
  to a point that will exempt very small batch
  plants from SIU status that have negligible
  impact on their POTWs

18
Other General Pretreatment Provisions

• SOCMA commented on other provisions that should
  be streamlined
• Slug Control Plans
• Monitoring for pollutants not present
• Use of grab and composite samples
• General permits and BMPs
• Removal Credits
• Recommended changes will provide efficiencies and
  benefits to POTWs as well as industrial users.
• In addition, number of opportunities for
  improving pretreatment program remain that should
  be pursued.

19
Issue 3 - Removal Credits

• Application for and availability of removal
  credits is addressed in the General Pretreatment
  Standards regulation (40 CFR 403.7)
• Congress provided for removal credits in CWA to
  promote efficient use of overall removal
  capabilities and avoid redundant treatment of
  wastewater discharged to POTWs.

20
Issue 3 - Removal Credits

• Availability has been limited to a very few
  pollutants for which sludge standards have been
  promulgated.
• Application for removal credits and inclusion of
  additional pollutants is onerous if not virtually
  impossible.
• Streamlining of the removal credit process has
  been taken off the table and instead further
  restrictions are to be imposed as a result of
  legal challenges.

21
Issue 4 - Proposed Wastewater NSPS and
Flexibility for Batch Operations

• Subpart YYY was originally proposed in 1994 with
  supplemental notices issued in 1995 and 1998.
• Standards of Performance for New Stationary
  Sources VOC Emissions from the Synthetic
  Organic Chemical Manufacturing Industry
  Wastewater

22
Issue 4 - Proposed Wastewater NSPS and
Flexibility for Batch Operations

• Covers VOC emissions from SOCMI industry
  wastewater sources for new, reconstructed or
  modified sources.
• SOCMA has made a number of comments relative to
  its specific issues re batch processes and their
  unique operating conditions.

23
Issue 4 - Proposed Wastewater NSPS and
Flexibility for Batch Operations

• Regulation is extremely complex and burdensome
  for small, specialty-batch chemical producer
• Understanding applicability requirements alone
  will be a major undertaking
• SOCMA has recommended small volume producers be
  exempt and proposed diminimis levels in terms of
  annual production and test batches of SOCMI
  chemicals

24
Issue 4 - Proposed Wastewater NSPS and
Flexibility for Batch Operations

• In the proposed rule, annual average is used
  for applicability determinations and calculations
  must account for 12-month period of operation.
• Annual average may be appropriate for
  continuous and/or single product units but not
  multi-purpose batch processes.
• Calculations to determine true annual average
  for an entire 12-month period or even for a
  single baseline product re 772(e)(2) over a
  complete campaign would be extremely difficult
  and burdensome.

25
Issue 4 - Proposed Wastewater NSPS and
Flexibility for Batch Operations

• SOCMA proposed 2 new definitions under 60.771 to
  accommodate our request to determine Organic
  wastewater compound emissions and mass emission
  increases over a single representative batch
  cycle and provided example calculations for such
  from actual plant data.
• Definition of Standard Batch was taken from the
  Pharmaceutical MACT regulation

26
Issue 4 - Proposed Wastewater NSPS and
Flexibility for Batch Operations

• Status
• SOCMA has reviewed its comments on Subpart YYY
  proposed regulation with EPA on several occasions
  as part of stakeholders group.
• No resolution has been reached to our knowledge
  or draft language provided by the Agency for our
  consideration specifically re batch cycles,
  diminimis exemption.
• The rule is now scheduled for promulgation in
  late 2002 or early 2003.