Middlesex County Utilities Authority - Executive Summary |
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FACILITY DESCRIPTION The primary activity of the Middlesex County Utilities Authority is to provide wastewater treatment for it's thirty-three municipal participants and 7 direct industrial participants. The Authority's service area spans over three counties, Middlesex, Somerset and Union. The Authority treatment processes are comprised of a grit chamber, primary settling tanks, secondary treatment unit (pure oxygen) final settling tanks, chorine facilities and Land Base Sludge Management Facility. The Authority receives chlorine at its' treatment plant via 90 Ton rail cars. The chlorine is used to disinfect the treated wastewater prior to being discharged into the Raritan Bay. The Chlorine rail cars (four maximum) are stored on site in a secure location and are monitored twenty-four hours a day. WORST-CASE SCENARIO The worst-case scenario for chlorine is the failure of an entire rail car containing 180,000 lbs of liquid chlorine. This scenario gives a distance to the EPA toxi c endpoint of 35.6 miles based on USEPA Risk Management Program Guidance for Wastewater Treatment Plants. This scenario requires an extremely unlikely event of a catastrophic failure of the rail car. The rail cars are unloaded from the top, which means that unloading hose failure cannot cause the release of the entire rail car. ALTERNATIVE-CASE SCENARIO The alternative-case scenario for chlorine is a pipe leak in the chlorine process area that results in a vapor release of 840 lbs of chlorine. This scenario gives a distance to the EPA endpoint of 1.2 miles based on USEPA Risk Management Program Guidance for Wastewater Treatment Plants. The impact from this scenario is limited by the fact the Authority has operating procedures and process monitoring in place which will limit the duration of the leak. ACCIDENT PREVENTION PROGRAM The process is subject to the State of New Jersey's Toxic Catastrophe Prevention Act Regulations (NJAC 7:31 et.seq.) and has a complete risk management pr ogram in place. This program includes Standard Operating , Emergency Response , Accident Investigation, Hazard Analysis, Risk Assessment, Training and Preventive Maintenance Procedures. This procedures include the use of process hazard analysis to identify and address potential leaks, management of change procedures to control modifications, detailed operating procedures for process control and operator training for personnel involved in the chlorine process. FIVE YEAR ACCIDENT HISTORY In the past five years, the Authority has not had any accidental release of chlorine that have resulted in on-site injuries or damage or any off-site impacts. EMERGENCY RESPONSE PROGRAM The Authority has written emergency response plan and coordinates emergency response matters with the Sayreville Police Department and Sayreville LEPC. The Authority has provided emergency response training for all plant employees and has a trained emergency response team on-site twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, all year round. |