Opequon Water Reclamation Facility - Executive Summary |
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The Opequon Water Reclamation Facility is located in Frederick County, Virginia and is operated by the City of Winchester's Department of Public Utilities. As part of the operations at the facility, a chlorination system is used for disinfection purposes. In accordance with federal regulations, the facility 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 facility. In addition, the facility complies with OSHA's Process Safety Management (PSM) provisions. A worst-case release 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 pu blic receptors. The alternative scenario is based on a leak from the system's 1/4 inch flexible connection resulting in a 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, required operator training in chlorine safety, a preventive maintenance program for the chlorine system equipment and related components, and established emergency response procedures includi ng coordination with the local fire department and notification of the public. |