City of Wildwood Wastewater Treatment Plant - Executive Summary |
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RISK MANAGEMENT PLAN EXECUTIVE SUMMARY CITY OF WILDWOOD WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT BACKGROUND The City of Wildwood Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) is firmly committed to providing excellent service to its customers while protecting the safety of its neighbors and the surrounding environment. In order to cleanse the processed wastewater of any bacteria, pathogens, or viruses, the Wildwood WWTP uses chlorine to disinfect wastewater at its modern facility located on Industrial Drive in Wildwood, Florida. Chlorine is one of the best disinfection substances currently produced and has the advantage of remaining in water as a residual to continue to disinfect any bacteria that may come in contact with the wastewater in the pipe lines. Like other wastewater utilities, the WWTP is required to safely store the chlorine gas. Chlorine gas is relatively inexpensive and operators are very familiar with handling chlorine. Chlorine is stored under pressure in the liquid form in special ch lorine cylinders. Approximately 3 - 4 tons of chlorine is stored at the water treatment plant, and new deliveries of chlorine are made monthly. Chlorine gas is a respiratory irritant and potentially toxic, and to minimize the potential for a chlorine leak a Risk Management Program has been established by the City of Wildwood Wastewater Treatment Plant to minimize the risk of chlorine gas release to the surrounding environment. The City of Wildwood Wastewater Treatment Facility has never had an accidental chlorine release with offsite consequences and in fact, they are rare in the wastewater treatment business. The absolute worst case scenario as defined by EPA is for the contents of the chlorine container to be released over a 10 minute period. A faster or slower release time will likely result in a smaller chlorine gas plume. For the worst case scenario, the wind is nearly calm, the release occurs at night, the atmosphere is extremely stable, and no actions are taken to stop the leak. The maximum distance this plume could reach and still cause possible long term physical damage to a person who does not evacuate is 3 miles. An alternative worst case scenario was also analyzed by the EPA, using more typical release rates, temperature, wind speed, and atmospheric stability. This results in a chlorine plume with an endpoint of 0.6 miles assuming no actions are taken to stop the leak For planning purposes, all residents within this distance from the chlorine source in the direction of the wind will notified immediately with emergency instructions in the unlikely event of an uncontrolled release of chlorine gas. The endpoint distances for the above scenarios corresponds to 3 parts per million (ppm) chlorine gas in the air. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published 40 CFR 68, Risk Management Planning - Accidental Release Prevention Regulations, in June 1996 to implement Section 112 (r)(7) of the Clean Air Act. Risk Management Plans (RMPs) are require d by organizations that exceed a threshold amount of a regulated hazardous chemical to help prevent accidents, operate safely, and to manage the chemicals safely. The Risk Management Plan will be made available to the public so that communities can determine if any additional safeguards should be made. Completion of an RMP will also provide the majority of the requirements of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Process Safety Management standard enacted in 29 CFR 1190.119. The Risk Management Program established by the City of Wildwood Wastewater Treatment Facility is designed to minimize the risk of a chlorine leak by establishing numerous controls to assess and prevent any possible hazards. Some of the measures taken to ensure safety include: 7 Extensive operator training on the operation and handling of all chlorine equipment 7 Mock chemical emergency drills have been conducted every year since 1997 7 Preventive maintenance and testing program 7 Automatic ch lorine leak detectors for instantaneous leak notification 7 Well designed chlorine system which operates under a vacuum, causing air to leak into the system in the event of a leak 7 Maintaining the minimum inventory practical 7 Using the latest technology equipment The City of Wildwood Wastewater Treatment Plant is a recently completed modern $10 million dollar facility containing reliable equipment. The professionals operating the facility are experienced and well trained. The employees take great pride in serving the City of Wildwood and are dedicated to providing outstanding, safe service. |