CITY OF ELYRIA WASTEWATER POLLUTION CONTROL PLANT - Executive Summary |
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Our commitment to the members of our community, including our families, children, friends, visitors, and guests, is based upon our respect for our environment, commitment to improving our natural resources, and providing a safe and comfortable place for our residents to live for years to come. We pledge to continue to make our community one that our residents are proud to call home. This process is one of dozens of regulatory requirements that our managers and employees are committed to meeting so that we can ensure that our wastewater is safely treated and returned to the Black River. These requirements include, among the many others, specialized training, education, and experience, the following of carefully prescribed procedures, the performance of laboratory tests, and ensuring that the waste water systems meet stringent requirements for safety, quality, purity, and mechanical integrity. Without the active support of our employees we could not meet, let alone exceed, these requ irements. We are indebted to their commitment to our precious natural resources, to the environment, and to the communities they call home. As part of our commitment to the safety and well-being of our employees and to the members of the community we serve, we are pleased to describe our efforts to not only meet, but to exceed, the requirements set by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. Our wastewater treatment facility presently uses chlorine to disinfect the wastewater effluent and to make it acceptable for return to the river. This process kills the dangerous bacteria that may be present in the wastewater. Before the wastewater leaves our plant the chlorine is reduced. We routinely test our wastewater at various stages of the treatment process to make sure it meets the EPA's tough criteria. We receive our chlorine in one ton containers. In general, we maintain no more than eight containers on site at any one time in order to ensure that we do not run out of chlorine. This redundancy is required by the EPA to ensure our ability to treat the water. Once the chlorine comes onto our property we follow carefully considered procedures to ensure that the chlorine is safely moved to our enclosed storage room. This room is used only for storing and using our chlorine and other chemicals. It is constructed of fire resistant materials and is designed to generally contain the contents of our containers in the event of a leak. This room has special alarms designed to immediately alert us to the smallest leak. Because of the possibility for a leak in this area, only trained employees handle or move the chlorine. The process of getting chlorine out of the storage container and into the water is a simple procedure for our employees. Once a container is empty our specially trained employees shut off the supply, disconnect the hose from the empty container, and reconnect to a new container that is full of chlorine. They check to make sure the container has n o leaks and turn the system back on. If a leak occurs, the most common way to fix it is to shut off the supply. Our trained employees know how to perform this shut-off procedure and others like it, just in case. They maintain the specialized equipment they might need to use in a near-by area. Once the chlorine supply is turned back on, the chlorine is sent to the wastewater treatment system through specially manufactured and purchased equipment that automatically ensures that the right amount is provided to our process. This equipment is inspected and maintained by our trained maintenance people. For more complicated repairs we have the manufacturer or other specialists come in to help us. As part of our responsibility in this process, we have carefully examined our method of handling the chlorine and other chemicals, including reviewing and revising what we can, or must, do in an emergency. To assist us in the process we enlisted the aid of a consulting firm to provide a sour ce of specialized knowledge and to help us to take an honest look at ourselves. While we felt that we were doing a fine job of using our chemicals, they were able to suggest ways for us to get even better. This commitment to doing better is an important part of our process of ensuring the safety of our employees, neighbors, and the environment. We will take an impartial look at ourselves on a regular basis to continue to improve. In spite of all of the effort that we have invested in improving the process of handling chlorine in our facility, we know that the risk of a chlorine leak, although small, is still possible. We have sought the aid of our local community fire and emergency responders, as well as our local emergency planning committee, to devise plans to ensure that the people of our community are protected in the event that the unlikely does occur. One step that we have taken to ensure adequate response is to predict (using models provided by the EPA) what the worst po ssible event might be, so that we can make sure that we, as a community, can respond effectively. The planning model that we used says that we should be prepared for an event that could spread up to one mile from our plant. Although this major event isn't likely according to the EPA, we still want to error on the side of safety in our planning process. We have cooperated fully with our local fire department and other responders to ensure that they are aware of this possible event and we have co-developed, and will continue to cooperatively refine, a plan for making sure that people and the environment in our community are protected. In the future we may consider other ways to ensure the safety of the drinking water of our community. Although some other methods are presently available now, we have not been able to justify spending the operating funds to purchase the equipment. We will constantly evaluate new technology as part of our on-going effort to provide safe wastewater t reatment in our community. The residents of our community are welcome to contact us to learn more about our regulatory compliance efforts, our chemical safety and handling methods, and our vision for providing safe wastewater treatment into the future. |