In response to a report of its Inspector General (IG), EPA has announced plans to require wastewater treatment plants to monitor additional chemical pollutants and notify regulators when limits are exceeded. Issued September 29, the final IG report, entitled “More Action is Needed to Protect Water Resources From Unmonitored Hazardous Chemicals”, identified a gap in monitoring and reporting on over 300 chemicals that would be considered hazardous waste under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), but are exempted from regulation because they are discharged to wastewater treatment plants. However, most publicly owned treatment works (POTWs) do not monitor for… Read more
Tag: wastewater
Permit Appeal May Affect Underground Injection of Fracking Wastewater
On March 14, residents and officials in Brady Township, Pennsylvania, appealed an underground injection control (UIC) permit issued by U.S. EPA to Windfall Oil and Gas, permitting disposal of oil and gas wastewater by underground injection. The Petitioners assert that the UIC permit is invalid because the permit and its conditions are inadequate to ensure that the permitted injections will not endanger underground drinking water sources (USDWs) because EPA did not adequately consider seismic risks caused by the underground injection. If the appeal is successful, it could force EPA to evaluate UIC permit applications for oil and gas wastewater for… Read more