Village of Winnetka Water Plant - Executive Summary |
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The objective of The Winnetka Water Filtration Plant and Willow Road Reservoir is to maintain public health by providing safe drinking water, free of pathogens. This involves the addition of chlorine that, if released in an uncontrolled manner, may present a risk to public health. While such incidents are rare, they have occurred. The Village of Winnetka Water Plant has enacted a Risk Management Program. The goal of the Risk Management Program (RMProgram) is to reduce the risk to employees and the public of injury or death from accidental release of chlorine. The organization's management is committed to achieving this goal. The purpose of the management program is to ensure that everyone who plays a part in the RPMprogram understands their roles and responsibilities and that responsibilities are assigned for all program elements. This includes employee training and education. The Water Plant stores more than the minimum threshold limit of chlorine. We are required to perform an o ffsite consequence analysis to check whether our process put nearby population at risk. We used RMP*Comp, a computer program developed by the CAMEO Team at the Hazardous Materials Response and Assessment Division, NOAA, and the Chemical Emergency Prevention and Preparedness Office of the EPA, to perform offsite consequence analysis required under the EPA's Risk Management Planning rule. Our chlorination system uses modern electronic technology to inject and control the process. Alarms, diagnosis, and controls are constantly monitored by a supervisory control and data acquisition system. The chlorine cylinders need to be handled manually. The worst case scenario would be 150 pounds released over a 10 minute period. We allow only experienced and trained personnel to handle chlorine cylinders to prevent accidental releases. We have had only one accidental release in the past five years. 14 pounds of chlorine gas escaped in a two minute period and no injuries or residential evacuations occurred. Enhanced training and revised operating procedures were implemented as a result of the release. We have excellent communications with local emergency responders. Training and alert systems are reviewed on a regular basis. |