Lorain Water Purification Plant - Executive Summary |
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Executive Summary Lorain Water Purification Plant, Lorain, Ohio 44052 The Lorain Water Purification Plant has been treating and producing drinking water for over 100 years. Lorain takes water from Lake Erie and treats it and pumps finished drinking water to over 71,000 customers and businesses. Chlorine is used in this process to disinfect the water. Chlorine is stored in ton cylinders. The chlorine inventory varies from less than 4 tons to 11 tons. We are dedicated to plant safety and are constantly striving to increase our personnel's knowledge of plant safety. We are constantly updating our contingency plan to ensure the safest possible plans are in place in the unlikely event of a chemical mishap. We have the latest Chlorine detection devices in place to detect a chlorine leak. Our chlorine detection system has audio alarms. The latest feed equipment is in place and is constantly being monitored by a computer system. All supervisors and plant personnel review our contingency plan annually. The management of the Water Plant is committed to plant safety. We have monthly drills with all plant personnel. These drills include: 1) Use of air packs 2) Use of Chlorine "B" kit 3) Safety inspections of the chlorine feed system 4) What to do in the unlikely event of an chlorine leak 5) Review of HazMat callout procedure. Annually we have: 1) Chlorine safety workshops attended by plant personnel 2) Testing of Chlorine safety knowledge for all personnel 3) CPR and first aid classes 4) Books and videos on chlorine safety A worst-case process hazard analysis has been performed with the following worst-case scenario: A rupture in the one-ton chlorine cylinder would be limited to a maximum of 2000 lbs. of chlorine released, with a discharge rate of 200lb/min. The municipal boat docks would be affected. The distance to endpoint would be 0.9 miles with a wind speed of 3.4 miles/hour. The chlorine detectors will detect a leak and an alarm would sound notifying the operators and plant staff. The staff would then notify the appropriate authorities, HazMat, plant maintenance and supervision. A discharge of this magnitude would be unlikely based on our plant procedures. Cylinders are handled minimally. They are stored in a closed room where the only traffic is the plant personnel making inspection and safety rounds. Our chlorine detectors would pick up any discharge. An alternative release scenario is as follows: A rupture of a line, valve or diaphragm is the most likely scenario. Each case would leak approximately 600 pounds of chlorine. An alarm would sound notifying the plant operation personnel about the leak, they would then call the appropriate authorities. All Plant personnel are instructed on the procedure to use in the unlikely event of a chlorine leak. Telephone numbers and procedures are posted and training is ongoing. We have had no accidental chlorine releases in the past five years. All our plant pers onnel are trained on responding to a chlorine release. We have coordinated this procedure with the City of Lorain HazMat unit. The HazMat unit trains on responding to chlorine cylinder leaks at the plant. All plant personnel are trained on using the chlorine B kit, for repairing cylinder leaks. They are also trained on the procedure used in dealing with a release of chlorine. Personnel are constantly trained on the use of the chlorine "B" kit, use of air packs. They attend chlorine safety workshops, CPR, first aid and safety workshops and classes. Literature is available for them to review procedures. We are starting to have more classroom training for all employees regarding plant safety and chlorine handling. We constantly review our procedures and policies regarding chlorine and chlorine discharges. Our feed equipment is state of the art as is our monitoring equipment. All equipment is inspected daily and on a maintenance schedule. A chlorine leak is unlikely based on o ur safety and maintenance procedures. All plant personnel are trained in the unlikely event of a discharge. They can act quickly to minimize the leak. Our safety program is coordinated with management and employees with cooperation all around. This is one of the main reasons that there has not been a discharge at our plant. |