District 2A Water Treatment Plant - Executive Summary |
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1. Accidental release prevention and emergency response policies: At the District 2A Water Treatment Plant (WTP) located in Broward County, Florida, chlorine is stored for use for drinking water disinfection. Chlorine is considered hazardous by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). It is management's commitment to safety and adherence to Federal, State, and local rules and regulations that reduce the threat to our employees and nearby members of the community. Our safety procedures involve the training of our employees in the safe handling of chlorine and the safety devices inherent in the design of this facility. Our facility's specific Emergency Action Plan includes notification of the local fire authority. In addition, access to the site is restricted to authorized facility employees, management personnel, and contractors. At the District 2A WTP, the chlorine system is in an unenclosed building on our property. In the near future, this building will be enclosed and certain implementations performed to facilitate the addition of an emergency chlorine scrubber. The addition of an emergency chlorine scrubber in fiscal year 2000 will help to mitigate a potentially hazardous situation in the event of a chlorine leak within the building. 2. The stationary source and regulated substances handled: The regulated substance handled at this facility is chlorine. The primary purpose of the District 2A WTP is to provide safe and high quality drinking water to the customer base. A large part of the purification of the water includes disinfection, of which chlorine plays a major part. Disinfection is a necessary step to kill bacteria and other microorganisms that can harm human health. Therefore, disinfection is accomplished by the addition of chlorine. A residual level of disinfectant is maintained throughout the distribution system in order to control unwanted microbial activity. The storage capacity of each cylinder is 2,000 pounds of c hlorine. We have a total capacity for 16 cylinders, therefore the maximum amount of chlorine that can be stored at our plant is approximately 32,000 pounds. 3. The worst-case release scenario(s) and the alternative release scenario(s): A. Worst-Case Scenario - After careful review of potential worst-case scenarios, we feel that the largest quantity of a cylinder (2,000 pounds) released outside, during a cylinder unloading accident that causes rupture of the cylinder, with no building passive mitigation effects, is our worst-case. The distance to the EPA established endpoint of 3 ppm for the worst-case scenario is approximately 1.3 miles. B. Alternative Scenario - The connection from the chlorine cylinder to the delivery piping breaks causing a flashing liquid through a small hole approximately 1/4-inch diameter. The liquid chlorine flashes immediately to vapor and fine liquid droplets and is carried downwind. The distance to the EPA established endpoint of 3 ppm for the alt ernative scenario is estimated to be 0.2 miles. This release has the possibility of extending beyond the facility's boundary. 4. The general accidental release prevention program and the specific prevention steps: This facility complies with EPA's Accidental Release Prevention Rule with applicable state codes and regulations including OSHA's Process Safety Management Standard. This facility was designed and constructed in accordance with professional engineering practices to ensure a safe system for our employees as well as our neighbors and environment. The delivery drivers have been thoroughly trained in regard to chlorine hazards. Our employees monitor each delivery of chlorine on our site. In addition, we contract out to chlorine system professionals to periodically inspect our chlorine system, and make any necessary adjustments to either equipment or procedures to ensure safe handling and use of chlorine. We maintain a computer generated preventative maintenance schedule of the chlorine process equipment. 5. Five-year accident history: There have been no accidental releases, injuries, or environmental damage resulting from our chlorine system in the last five years. 6. The emergency response program: This facility's Emergency Action Plan is based upon the appropriate discovery and notification procedures to ensure coordination with our local emergency responders. We have discussed this program with the Pompano Beach Fire Department. 7. Planned changes to improve safety: * Installation of an emergency chlorine scrubber and all its related appurtenances. * Enclosure of the building. * Installation of an overhead coiling door. * Installation of ventilation equipment, including louvers, fans, controls, and electrical modifications. * Conversion from a pressure chlorination system to a vacuum chlorination system. These are scheduled for fiscal year 2000. |