WEATHERFORD PUBLIC WORKS AUTHORITY - Executive Summary |
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY WEATHERFORD PUBLIC WORKS AUTHORITY The Weatherford Public works Authority has only one chemical that falls under the Clean Air Act (112R) Risk Management Plan and that is chlorine gas liquefied under pressure. The chlorine is stored in a restricted, fenced area to prevent vandalism or accidental/incidental contact with the chlorine containers or feed equipment. There are only two of the one ton cylinders on the site at any time and only one of these has the valves uncovered at time except for a very short time. That exception is at the time the cylinder in use is about empty and the second cylinder is uncovered to attach the feed equipment to allow the automatic switch over to the fresh cylinder to continue feeding chlorine. This in effect protects the environment from the probability of a of a release of the worst case scenario magnitude. There are procedures in place to contain a chlorine release and to warn the public if necessary for health and safe ty purposes. All emergency procedures are coordinated through Weatherford Fire Chief , Dean Brown who is also the Custer County Emergency Management Coordinator. All Custer County emergency services are available to Weatherford upon need. The operator in charge has written policy to follow in the event of a chemical release. The first of which is to call 911 for notification and assistance and then to contain the leak. Weatherford has a two million gallon per day wastewater treatment facility and is required by the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality to chlorinate the waste stream before the water is returned to the environment. The chlorine is to disinfect the water. This program was initiated on May 1, 1999. At that time the treatment plant had two full one ton chlorine cylinders in stock. This will not normally happen again because one of the cylinders will be emptied and then another will be delivered, so the likelihood of having two full cylinders is remote. An emergency kit to contain a leak is on hand to minimize any release. A worst case release scenario would be a complete release of all chemical on site in a ten minute period. Since there are two of the one ton cylinders on site the assumption for this purpose is that both are full setting there just waiting to dump into the environment at the rate of 400 pounds per minute. The USEPA has developed a modeling program through the Clean Air Act to describe the impacted area . In such a release as described , the impacted area would be three miles long shaped in an oval. With a South wind it is possible that the entire City of Weatherford would be evacuated. With wind from any other direction a house by house notification would be sufficient because of the sparse population. The Custer County Emergency Response Committee has developed the plans for complete evacuation of Weatherford and for detouring all traffic around the affected area. If a release occurs the operator in charge w ill call 911 for notification of emergency personnel and for assistance and then try to contain the leak. After the release is controlled federal and state emergency agencies must be notified. In an alternate release situation a small amount of chlorine leaking at a slow rate would be contained by plant personnel with the emergency kit and no off site effect to residents or businesses. With a release of ten pounds or more the federal and state emergency agencies would need to be notified. Accidental release prevention is an on going daily practice as all operators observe good operations procedures, such as using fresh lead gaskets when making chlorine connections and protecting the pressurized containers from traffic and direct sun. The chlorine containers are inside chain link fenced area to minimize access by vandals and traffic. Weatherford has not had a reportable chemical release in the last five years. In the event of a chemical release the operator in charge would call 9 11 to notify the local emergency responders and to activate the Custer County Emergency Responders. The operators would attempt to stop the release with the emergency kit. The Oklahoma Highway Patrol, the Custer County Sheriffs Department, The Weatherford Police Department, the Southwestern Oklahoma State University Police Department and the auxiliaries of these departments would go into action to block and reroute traffic away from the affected area as well as assist with evacuation if needed and public notification. The local authorities have the capabilities to interrupt local broadcast with emergency messages in order to notify residents, that may have their televisions on , of impending danger and what precautions to take. The operators of the wastewater facility have had training with self contained breathing apparatus and the entire maintenance department will be under going this training as well. Several training aids have been purchased and these will be used in the com ing months to improve and promote chemical safety and awareness. Material from the Chlorine Institute will also be used to conduct training. |