Conway County Regional Water Distribution District - Executive Summary |
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In this water treatment plant facility, we handle chlorine which is considered hazardous by EPA. The same properties that make chlorine valuable as a water treatment chemical, also makes it necessary to observe certain safety precautions in handling chlorine. Overall, the prevention of unnecessary human exposure, reducing the threat to our own personal health as well as our co-worker, and reducing the threat to nearby members of the community is the main goal of incorporating this risk management plan into our daily operations. It is our policy to adhere to all applicable federal and state rules and regulations. Safety depends upon the manner in which we handle chlorine combined with the safety devices inherent in the design of this facility, with the safe handling procedures that we utilize, and the training of our personnel. Our emergency response plan includes procedures for notification of the Morrilton Fire Department, then the notification of Steve Wear, Assistant Manager, a nd then notifying the Conway County 911 System for 911 call-out to affected population. The Morrilton Fire Department and Conway County Sheriff's Department will help to notify and evacuate any potentially affected neighbors by utilitzing vehicles with PA mounted announcing systems. The 911 System will also notify Conway County Offices of Emergency Services. The emergency response plan also includes procedures for the mitigation of gaseous chlorine release if it would ever happen. The primary purpose of this facility is to treat the water by utilizing chemicals such as chlorine. Chlorine is received by individual one ton cylinders at the #30 H2O Dr. location and stored until needed. Chlorine is fed into the water system by automatic feeders. All cylinders operate on a vacuum system. This vacuum system will prevent the continual operation of the system if there is an increase or decrease in operating pressure on the cylinders or lines. Access to the site is restricted to author ized facility employees, authorized management personnel, and authorized contractors. The regulated substance handled at the #30 H2O Dr. location is chlorine. The maximum amout of chlorine that can be stored at this plant is 6,000 pounds. There will only be one cylinder (2,000 pounds) on line at any one time. The worst-case scenario is failure of my largest storage tank when filled to the greatest amount allowed would release 2,000 pounds of chlorine from the chlorine storage area at the #30 H2O Dr. location. Passive mitigation has been considered for this scenario. The chlorine storage tanks are located in the chlorine feed room which is constructed of concrete walls completely enclosed. It is assumed that the entire contents are released as vapor. The distance to the endpoint of 0.0087 mg/l for the worst-case scenario is 3.5 miles. This location is classified as urban due to the thickly populated trees and steep hilly terrain around the site. An alternative scenario was det ermined for this facility; with small leak during cylinder change-out of a one ton cylinder. Also at this location is the vacuum system which is also determined to be effective in preventing small amounts of chlorine from escaping upon a system failure. An estimation, if a release occurred during cylinder change-out, would be approximately 10 pounds released into the atmosphere. This amount of vapor chlorine release would result in a distance to endpoint of approximately 0.08 miles. This water treatment facility complies with EPA's Accidental Release Prevention Rule and with all applicable state codes and regulations. We have had no accidental releases of chlorine in the last five years. The chlorine feed system at the #30 H2O Dr. facility was constructed in 1987 and upgraded in 1999 and is in compliance with all applicable regulations for water treatment facilities. |