Polk County Southwest Regional WWTF - Executive Summary |
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Polk County Utilities Southwest Regional WWTF is located on 4th Street in Mulberry, FL. The facility treats domestic wastewater from a portion of south Lakeland, FL. Up to four one-ton cylinders of chlorine gas are stored and used at the facility for process chlorination. All cylinders are equipped with pressure relief valves and automatic shutoff valves. On-site chlorine monitors provide remote sensing for chlorine leaks. There has not been any accidental releases of chlorine at this site. Polk County Utilities is in compliance with OSHA PSM and EPA RMP requirements for Program 3 processes. A procedural plan is established for training staff on operation and maintenance, pre-startup safety reviews, mechanical integrity checks, hot work, managing changes of equipment, conducting incident investigations, contractor work, compliance audits, hazard assessments, and hazard analyses on chlorination equipment and effects of accidental releases. Emergency response services are provided by Po lk County Emergency Management upon notification by Polk County Utilities staff or others of an accidental release at the facility. Polk County Utilities staff are trained on equipment maintenance and failure repair. Emergency Management staff will direct Utilities staff when to enter the site of an accidental release for investigation and repair of a release. Self-contained breathing apparati will be used by all staff when entering the site. Dispersion modeling was performing using ALOHA algorithms. A worst-case accidental release scenario of 2,000 pounds of chlorine gas in ten minutes results in a 3.1 mile radius zone of impact which could affect a population estimate of 25,700. Seven alternative case accidental release scenarios of 317 up to 4,320 pounds of gas over 27 to 60 minutes result in 0.2 to 1.2 radii zones of impact which could affect population estimates of 100 to 3,850. No environmental receptors are within any accidental release scenario. |