WEST WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT - Executive Summary |
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The City Of Athens, Texas operates and maintains it,s West Wastewater Treatment Facility. This facility is located at 7100 County Rd. 1500 (Old Malakoff Road). Entrance to the plant is abated by fencing and locked gates. The plant is in a remote area away from the populace. The plant sets down hill from the town with the terrain continuing to fall away from town. The city utilizes chlorine gas and sulfur dioxide gas in its treatment process. The 1 ton containers these gases are containted in are ASME coded vessels. During the design and construction of this plant the engineers used guidlines set forth by the National Chlorine Institute. All externial piping is protected from accidental damage by channel iron. The feed equipment is designed to automatically shut down if a major leak occurs in the piping, or feed equipment . All equipment is inspected daily. All personal that work inside the plant have received instructions in the safe handiling of chlorine and sulfur dioxide as well a sthe proper use of a self contained breathing apparatus. Each employ is required to attend a class on how to read and interpret a MSDS sheet within their first six months of service. As a first responder each has been trained in the proper procedure to shut down chemical feed systems, or report to the emergency responce personal. The Athens Fire Department is responsible for writing all emergency responce procedures, and coordinates all emergency responces. A copy of the Cities emergency responce program has been filed with the Henderson County Emergency Responce Cooridinator's office. For both our worse case senario and our alternative senario we used the models described in the EPA publication Guidence for Wastewater Teatment Plants. In the alternitive senario we used a leak at one of pipe fittings for our bases of computations since this is more likly to occure. All though a portion of town would be affected if the Worse Case Scenario as described by the EPA were to occur, the pr obability of such an occurance is highly improbable. Due to the safe guards buildt into the system, the physical properties of chlorine and sulfur dioxide gas, the geographacal location and terrain around the location of the plant any release of any amount of gas capable of having any off site consequence to human life is unlikely. There has not been any off site incident in the history of the plant. The closest public receptor to the chlorine and sulfur dioxide storage area is 0.6 miles away and at an elevation 40 feet higher. |