CITY OF NEWBURGH WATER FILTRATION PLANT - Executive Summary |
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The City of Newburgh Water Supply System curently provides potable water to approximately 26,000 consumers within the City of Newburgh. The water filtration plant is located on Little Britain Road in the Town of New Windsor. The maximum capacity of the filtration plant is 9.6 million gallons per day. The source of the city's raw water is Brown's Pond and Washington Lake. The raw water enters the filtration plant where it undergoes four treatment stages; coagulation, sedimentation, filtration and disinfection. The treated water is then discharged to the distribution system and point of use consumers. Several chemicals are utilized in the treatment of the raw water including activated carbon, polyaluminum chloride, sodium aluminate and chlorine. The chlorine is used for final disinfection of the treated water and is identified as a potentially toxic substance. The chlorine is stored as a gas in one (1) ton cylinders located in a seperate tank room in the chemical feed building. The amount of chlorine stored at the facility is typically 12,000 lbs. As the amount of chlorine stored on site is greater then 2,500 lbs. the facility is subject to the US EPA chemical accident prevention rule and must file this risk management plan. It should be noted that the City is in the process of converting the disinfection process from gas chlorine to sodium hypochlorite which is not covered by the EPA rule. The City expects to complete this conversion by the end of 1999. In accordance with the New York State Sanitary Code Subpart 5-1, the City maintains an Emergency Response Plan for teh water supply system. The plan was approved by the Department of Health (DOH) on 22 January 1996 and is scheduled to be updated prior to 31 December 2000 in accordance with DOH regulations. The Emergency Response Plan identifies specific emergency situations which may occur at the water filtration plant and provides appropriate response actions to be taken by plant personnel and emergenc y responders. The Emergency Response Plan discusses the possibility of a chlorine gaas leak in Section D of the plan. The following emergency resonse steps will be taken by plant personnel and emergecny responders in the event of a chlorine gas leak: 1. The chlorine room and chemical feed building will be evacuated. 2. The operator in charge will notify the Goodwill Fire Department (914) 562-1414 and the City of Newburgh Fire Department (914) 562-1212. 3. Two personnel trained in the use of self contained breathing apparatus (SCUBA) will enter the chlorine room and shutdown the chlorination system and close valves upstream of the leakage source. 4. The plant operator and responding Fire Departments will review the need to evacuate adjoining residences and buildings depending upon the quantity of gas released and current conditions. 5. Once the chlorine leak is stopped, the chemical feed building will be thoroughly ventilated. 6. Utilizing onsite testing equipment, the chl orine system components will be checked to verify that the leak is stopped. 7. The Orange County Health Department will be notified. The worst case scenario for a chlorine leak at the facility was evaluated utilizing the RMP COMP version 1.06 program. The quantity release to simulate the worst case scenario was 2,000 lbs. The chlorine gas is currently stored in independent 2,000 lb cylinders. If one cylinder fails, the result is that only 2,000 lbs will be released. The distance to the toxic endpoint was estimated to be 1.3 miles. There are residences located within the distance estimated. There is also a school located approximately 1.0 miles from the plant. Evacuation of this area will be determined by the water superintendent and responding emergency personnel. within the past five years there have been no accidental releases of chlorine gas at the City of Newburgh Water Treatment Facility. However, the City recognizes the potential risks associated with chlorine gas and is therefore in the process of converting the disinfection system to sodium hypochlorite. The conversion will be completed by the end of 1999, at which time the emergency response proceedures will be reviewd and updated accordingly. The use of sodium hypochlorite as a disinfectant will improve safety at the water treatment facility and eliminate the risk for accidental release of chlorine gas. |