Industrial Discharges & Potential Impact on WET Tests

Transcription

1 Industrial Discharges & Potential Impact on WET Tests

2 Laboratory Test Living Organisms Vertebrate Invertebrate Exposure to Effluent What is WET?

3 C. dubia WET Test Set-Up

4 C. dubia WET Test Randomized Board

5 Counting Neonates and Counting Broods

6 Common Causes of WET Test Failures Ammonia Dissolved Solids Pathogens Construction Contaminated Sampling Equipment Chlorine Nitrite?

7 Case 1 - Initial WET Analyses Testing Initiated May 1993 Between May 1993 and December Samples Tested - 8 Samples (67%) Exhibited Lethal Effects

8 Case 1 - Investigation

9 Case 2 - Treatments No Code Description 1 AO Ambient ph (Control) 2 Aa Ambient with aeration 3 Af Ambient with filtration 4 B0 ph 3 5 Ba ph3 with aeration 6 Bf ph3 with filtration 7 Bs ph3 with solid phase extraction 8 C0 ph 10 9 Ca ph10 with aeration 10 Cf ph10 with filtration 11 Cs ph10 with solid phase extraction

10 Case 2 - Treatments No Code Description 12 EO EDTA Control 13 E1 EDTA lowest concentration 14 E2 EDTA [ 2 * E1] 15 E3 EDTA [2 * E2] 16 E4 EDTA [2 * E3] 17 TO Sodium Thiosulfate (STS) Control 18 T1 STS lowest concentration 19 T2 STS [2 * T1] 20 T3 STS [2 * T2] 21 T4 STS [2 * T3]

11 Case 1 - Solid Phase Extraction

12 Case 1 - Permit Diazinon No treatment possible Permit required Public Education Program Testing for Diazinon

13 Case 1 Influent Diazinon Concentration Trinity River Authority Ten Mile Creek Regional Wastewater System 100% 0.60 % of Measurements >DL 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Before PEP After PEP Average Concentration ( g/l) Year % greater than Detection Limit Average Concentration

14 Case 1 WET Limit? In 2005 EPA directed TCEQ to add WET limit to draft permit. Basis - Not a precise correlation between Diazinon concentrations and test failures - Sublethal failures

15 Case 1- WET Permit Limit Concerns Single failure - permit violation. Two failures - referral to enforcement. No identified cause. No identified treatment solution.

16

17

18 Case 1 A Closer Look 1

19 Case 1 A Closer Look 2

20 Case 1 A Closer Look 3a

21 Case 1 A Closer Look 3b

22 Case 1 A Closer Look 4

23 Case 1 Case Closed Treatment Plant Upgrades New WET Test Lab

24 Case 2 WET Limit Avoided 3 Suspects Copper Nickel Zinc

25 Case 2 Permit Limits annual average flow of effluent shall not exceed 2.0 MGD Total Copper Total Nickel Total Zinc mg/l mg/l mg/l

26 Case 2 - Test History Year Tests Results Studies Tests 4 Failures 3 TIEs Tests 1 Failure Zinc Spiking Study Tests 0 Failures Trinary Metal Spiking Study Tests 0 Failures None Tests 0 Failures None Test 0 Failures None

27 Case 2 - The Beginning

28 Case 2 - Treatments No Code Description 1 AO Ambient ph (Control) 2 Aa Ambient with aeration 3 Af Ambient with filtration 4 B0 ph 3 5 Ba ph3 with aeration 6 Bf ph3 with filtration 7 Bs ph3 with solid phase extraction 8 C0 ph 10 9 Ca ph10 with aeration 10 Cf ph10 with filtration 11 Cs ph10 with solid phase extraction

29 Case 2 - Treatments No Code Description 12 EO EDTA Control 13 E1 EDTA lowest concentration 14 E2 EDTA [ 2 * E1] 15 E3 EDTA [2 * E2] 16 E4 EDTA [2 * E3] 17 TO Sodium Thiosulfate (STS) Control 18 T1 STS lowest concentration 19 T2 STS [2 * T1] 20 T3 STS [2 * T2] 21 T4 STS [2 * T3]

30 Case 2 Treatments March 2011 Sample Lab Water Control Effluent

31 Case 2 Treatments March 2011 Sample

32 Case 2 Treatments October 2011 Sample Lab Water Control Effluent

33 Case 2 Treatments November 2011 Sample Effluent Lab Water Control

34 Lab Water - March Lab Water - Nov Lab Water - Oct

35 Case 2 Zinc Spike Average No. Neonates Effluent spiked with zinc (ug/l)

36 Case 2 Trinary Combinations of Copper, Nickel, and Zinc

37 Case 2 Copper Effect

38 Case 2 Nickel Effect

39 Case 2 Zinc Effect

40 Case 2 Lab Conclusion

41 Case 2 What Are the Metal Effluent Concentrations? Test Date Max in Compliance Test (% Effluent) TIE Study (% Effluent) March October November

42 Case 2 Copper

43 Case 2 Nickel

44 Case 2 Zinc

45 Case 2 Plant Performance

46 Case 2 Permit Amendment Presented Results to TCEQ Agreed to Permit Amendment Removal of Metal Limits No WET limits because no more WET failures

47 Case 3 Disappearing Toxicity Strong lethal effects in Compliance Test Some retests retain toxicity Some retests lose some or all toxicity Ammonia concentrations high Ammonia typically stable during storage

48 Case 3 Disappearing Toxicity Zeolite Removed Toxicity. Ammonia Re-addition duplicated original results. Sea lettuce removed ammonia and toxicity. Permit Received Ammonia Limit

49 Case 4 - Alkalinity

50 Case 5 Toxicity Tale Books 1-5

51 Case 5 - Book 1 Background Lethal failures in 1990s. Invoked cessation of lethality in 2001 after passing 31 monthly tests. Report of lethality test failure in November 2001, triggered EPA proposal for WET limit in permit.

52 Case 5 Book1 Non-monotonic dose-response curves. Control charts indicate organisms more sensitive than normal. November 2001 test not terminated when controls had 3 broods. Split samples in January 2002; one laboratory reported a pass.

53 Case 5 End of Book 1 Judge rules in favor of permittee. TCEQ agrees permit without WET limit. EPA does not agree.

54 Case 5 Book 2 Investigation of Sublethal Effects EDTA Sodium Thiosulfate ph adjustment Filtration Aeration Solid Phase Extraction

55 Case 5 Book 2 Investigation of Sublethal Effects Daphnia magna Colloidal Solids CO 2 Blanket

56 Case 5 Book 2 Investigation of Sublethal Effects Source Water Split Samples Mock Effluent Comparison WWTP#1 and #2 40% of Tests show sublethal effect in Mock Effluent and WWTPs.

57 Case 5 Book 2 The Cause Identified Low Hardness (50 70 mg/l, as CaCO 3 ) High Alkalinity ( mg/l, as CaCO 3 )

58 Case 5- Book 3 EPA Federalized Permit EPA issued permit with WET limit. Environmental Appeals Board EAB sent permit back to EPA to reissue. EPA delegated permit back to State.

59 Case 5- Book 4 TCEQ issues permit without WET limit.

60 Case 5- Book 5 CANCELED Client changes Water Supply No more WET test failures

61 Case 6 - Toxic Golf Balls

62 Case X Case Open Nitrite

63 Effluent - March

64 Lab Water Control - October EDTA Control STS Control 15

65 Effluent - October

66 Lab Water Control-November

67 Effluent November