City of Liberal Domestic Waste Treatment Plant - Executive Summary

| Accident History | Chemicals | Emergency Response | Registration | Source | Executive Summary |

The City of Liberal, Kansas has one (1) regulated substance located at the city's domestic waste treatment facility.  That substance, chlorine, is used as a disinfectant on the plant's effluent, prior to discharge.  The plant has been in operation for seventeen (17) years, using a chlorine system.  During this time, no leaks or other incidents have occurred which would cause a threat to the community or to the employees of the facility. 
 
The chlorine system is contained in a building on the waste treatment facility grounds, located on the east side of the city.  The chlorine is on a gaseous state, and it's release would present a toxic hazard to the surrounding community.  It is estimated that a "worst case" release would cause the gas to travel a distance of 2.6 miles before dissipating to a non-hazardous level.  The most likely occurrance would be a release to the east, over the wastewater lagoons and landfill.  In the case of a release, the fire department would initiate our communi 
ty emergency response plan.  This plan would include notification to the public and possible evacuation of the affected areas. 
 
Plans to replace the chlorine injection system with an ultraviolet system are in the city's current budget.  This will eliminate toxic levels of chlorine from the site.  Until the system is replaced, efforts to ensure that equipment and procedures are non-threatening to the community are ongoing.  These include regular training session emergency response and handling of chlorine, as well as scheduled daily, weekly, monthly and annual equipment checks.  Equipment replacements and upgrades were completed in 1994 and again in 1995.
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