EPA on enforcement of the Clean Water Act

At a recent Congressional hearing, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson announced that her agency will be stepping up enforcement of the Clean Water Act. It will be placing more focus on concentrated animal feeding operations, sewer overflows, contaminated water that flows from industrial facilities, construction sites, and runoff from urban streets.

This is another step by the current administration to step away from the approach taken by the last one.

New directions from the Obama EPA

In less than a year into its new administration, the Obama White House and its EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson have already made quite an imprint on the environmental regulatory landscape.

During his first month in office, President Obama directed EPA to review the action taken by the previous administration in prohibiting California from regulating automobile carbon dioxide emissions. This directive followed the Supreme Court’s ruling under Massachusetts v EPA that carbon dioxide is an air pollutant under the Clean Air Act and that EPA must regulate it if it is found to cause harm to public health and welfare.

EPA promptly issued a draft endangerment study on April 14, 2009 proposing that CO2 and other greenhouse gases pose a threat to public health and welfare. On July 1, 2009, EPA reversed the Bush administration’s decision and allowed California to regulate CO2 from tail pipes.

The Obama EPA is tackling the greenhouse gas issues on two fronts. It is working with Congress to develop new cap-and-trade laws to reduce greenhouse gas while developing its own regulations under the Clean Air Act to regulate it.

On September 30, 2009, Lisa Jackson announced that EPA is proposing new regulation under the Clean Air Act to curb greenhouse gas from industries that emit more than 25,000 tons of CO2 per year. This would bring many plants under the new regulation if it becomes final.

The Obama EPA has also dropped a Bush plan to exempt some 3,500 facilities from reporting chemical releases under the Toxic release Inventory. You can expect to see a few more rule reversals in the future.

Dilution as a solution to pollution

Yes – Virginia – there is a Santa Claus. There is also a mixing zone – where you can use dilution as a solution to pollution.

Under EPA regulation 40 CFR 131.13, states “may, at their discretion, include in their State standards, policies generally affecting their application and implementation, such as mixing zones, low flows and variances. such policies are subject to EPA review and approval.”

Mixing zones are defined as “a limited area or volume of water where initial dilution of a discharge takes place and where numeric water quality criteria can be exceeded but acutely toxic conditions are prevented from occurring.”

Many states – including California – allow mixing zones. If you are applying for a permit to discharge your waterwater directly to the navigable waters of the United States, you might want to seriously consider including a mixing zone in your application. The benefits to you can be enormous.

Once you obtain a mixing zone for a particular wastewater parameter, you will only need to meet that parameter’s water quality standard at the edge of the mixing zone. Without a mixing zone, you will have to meet the water quality standard at the end of your discharge pipe.  Mixing zones usually carry a dilution ratio of 100:1. That means you only need to treat your waste parameter down to 100 times the concentration of its water quality standard at the end of your pipe. The dilution effect of the mixing zone will bring the concentration down to the water quality standard level at the edge of the mixing zone.

To get a mixing zone, you will need to do computer modelling of your discharge plume taking into consideration the depth, water quality and flow conditions of your receiving water. You must follow your state agency’s guidelines on mixing zones.