G. Robert House, Jr., Water Treatment Facility - Executive Summary |
|
The G. Robert House Jr., Water Treatment Facility (GRHWTF) is located in Suffolk, Virginia and is operated by the City of Suffolk's Department of Public Utilities. As part of the operations at the GRHWTF, a chlorination system is used for disinfection purposes. In accordance with federal regulations, the City has developed and implemented a Risk Management Program including accidental release prevention and emergency response procedures to address onsite and offsite safety issues associated with the use of chlorine at the GRHWTF. In addition, the facility complies with OSHA's Process Safety Management (PSM) provisions. A worst-case scenario and an alternative release scenario were evaluated to estimate potential impacts to the surrounding offsite area in the event of a chlorine release. The worst-case scenario is based on failure of a full one ton chlorine container. The chlorine vapor cloud from a worst-case release event would travel to offsite areas and reach nearby public rec eptors. The alternative scenario is based on the failure of a chlorinator assembly resulting in the release of chlorine for a 10-minute period prior to corrective actions being taken by plant personnel. In this scenario, the chlorine vapor cloud would travel to offsite areas and depending on prevailing wind conditions, could reach nearby public receptors. The facility has not had an accidental release of chlorine that caused injuries, property damage, or environmental damage in the past five years. Also, mitigation measures and procedures have been established by the City to minimize the potential for accidental chlorine releases and to minimize offsite impacts in the event of an accidental release of chlorine. These measures include chlorine leak detectors and alarms located throughout the facility, required operator training in chlorine safety, a preventative maintenance program for the chlorine system equipment and related components, and established emergency response procedur es including coordination with the local fire department and notification of the public. |