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Welcome to Water Online's weekly review of the latest U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations, resources, and activities related to the water, wastewater, and stormwater industries. EPA offices and programs covered in this installment are listed below. Click on an office or program name to go directly to that section of the article.

• Office of Water (OW)
  • EPA Seeks Comment on Preliminary Perchlorate Drinking Water Decision
  • Climate Change Strategy to Help Manage Water Resources
  • New Document Available: "TMDLs Where Mercury Loadings are Predominantly from Air Deposition"
• Office of Research and Development (ORD)
• Porous Pavements: Managing Rainwater Runoff
• Other EPA News
  • System to Treat TCE in Surface Water to Be Tested This Fall
  • 18 Federal Agencies Gather in Seattle to Accept EPA's "Federal Green Challenge"
  • Greka Violates Enforcement Order, EPA Takes Over

Office of Water (OW)

EPA Seeks Comment on Preliminary Perchlorate Drinking Water Decision
The EPA conducted extensive review of scientific data related to the health effects of exposure to perchlorate from drinking water and other sources and found that in more than 99% of public drinking water systems, perchlorate was not at levels of public health concern. Therefore, based on the Safe Water Drinking Act criteria, the agency determined there is not a "meaningful opportunity for health risk reduction" through a national drinking water regulation.

The agency is seeking comment on its preliminary determination not to regulate perchlorate in drinking water at a national level. EPA will make a final determination for perchlorate after considering information provided in the 30-day public comment period.

While less than 1% of the drinking water sources have perchlorate levels above the health reference level, EPA is committed to working with states and localities to ensure public health is protected. States have the right to establish and enforce drinking water standards and EPA encourages state-specific situations to be addressed at the local level. EPA intends to issue a health advisory at the time it issues its final regulatory determination for perchlorate, to assist states with their local response.

A regulatory determination is a formal decision by EPA as to whether it should initiate development of a national primary drinking water regulation for a specific contaminant under the Safe Drinking Water Act. EPA has drinking water regulations for more than 90 contaminants. Every five years, EPA develops a Contaminant Candidate List of contaminants to consider for regulation and then makes regulatory determinations on some of the contaminants based on scientific information on health effects, occurrence in drinking water, and the opportunity for risk reduction.

A health advisory provides technical guidance to federal, state, and other public health officials on health effects, analytical methods, and treatment technologies associated with drinking water contamination. Health advisories also contain guidance values that are concentrations of a contaminant in drinking water that are likely to be without adverse health effects.

Further information on drinking water regulatory determinations is available at www.epa.gov/safewater/ccl/reg_determine2.html.

Climate Change Strategy to Help Manage Water Resources
To assist in responding to potential effects of climate change, a new strategy focuses on 40 specific actions for the national water program to take to respond to climate change. EPA's "National Water Program Strategy: Response to Climate Change" describes steps for managers to adapt their clean water, drinking water, and ocean protection programs.

EPA water programs are already taking action related to climate change, including the WaterSense water efficiency program, green infrastructure for wet weather management, Climate Ready Estuaries, and the proposed national rule for the injection of carbon dioxide underground.

The water strategy identifies specific response actions in five areas:

• Mitigation of greenhouse gases
• Adaptation to climate change
• Research related to water and climate change
• Education on climate change
• Water program management of climate change

Potential impacts of climate change on water resources reviewed in the strategy include increases in certain water pollution problems, changes in availability of drinking water supplies, and collective impacts on coastal areas. The strategy reflects input provided during a public comment period earlier this year.

EPA has been working with other federal agencies to coordinate work on climate change and water. Recently, EPA issued a joint memorandum with the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, and Interior to describe cooperative efforts on climate change and water issues. For more information on the strategy, visit www.epa.gov/water/climatechange.

New Document Available: "TMDLs Where Mercury Loadings are Predominantly from Air Deposition"
EPA recently released a document called "TMDLs Where Mercury Loadings are Predominantly from Air Deposition" to assist states in developing TMDLs for mercury-impaired waters under Clean Water Act section 303(d). This document describes considerations when developing mercury total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) in order to address the required and recommended TMDL elements discussed in existing guidance. The document (also referred to as a mercury TMDL "checklist") includes factors to consider when addressing TMDL elements on different geographic scales, such as water body, regional, and multi-state. The checklist builds on approaches in approved mercury TMDLs.

This effort is part of EPA's multipronged approach to listing mercury-impaired waters and developing mercury TMDLs. Recent efforts include revising strategic plan reporting provisions to more specifically account for mercury-impaired waters in tracking water body restoration. EPA also issued a memo in 2007 on the "5m" subcategory for listing waters impaired by mercury from air deposition (see www.epa.gov/owow/tmdl/mercury5m/). For such waters, states may defer the development of mercury TMDLs where a comprehensive state mercury reduction program has been put in place.

The cover memo and checklist are available respectively at www.epa.gov/owow/tmdl/pdf/cover_memo_mercury_tmdl_elements.pdf and www.epa.gov/owow/tmdl/pdf/document_mercury_tmdl_elements.pdf.

For more information on the EPA Office of Water, visit www.epa.gov/ow.

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Office of Research and Development (ORD)

Porous Pavements: Managing Rainwater Runoff
After a century of steadily paving the U.S. landscape with highways, parking lots, sidewalks, and driveways, Americans are gradually beginning to recognize the negative environmental effects of installing so much impervious pavement. Parking lots, for example, present a problem because they collect oil, anti-freeze, and other automobile contaminants that are swept into nearby streams with rainfall. This rapid runoff not only carries pollutants to local streams and lakes, it interferes with the natural hydrology that supports aquifer recharge and, ultimately, base flow in streams. One potential remedy is the development of porous pavements that filter rainwater runoff. NRMRL urban watershed researchers are evaluating the performance of one porous pavement system — interlocking concrete pavers with filter/gravel layers. You can read about this research at www.epa.gov/ORD/NRMRL/news/news102008.html, or listen to the podcast at www.epa.gov/nrmrl/podcast/news102008.mp3.

For more information on the EPA Office of Research and Development, visit www.epa.gov/ord.

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Other EPA News

System to Treat TCE in Surface Water to Be Tested This Fall
EPA, CTS Corporation, and Mills Gap Road Associates have reached an agreement to test a system that would treat trichloroethene (TCE) and other organic chemicals in springs near the former CTS plant in Asheville, NC. A geological investigation to support the design of the system commenced this week and pilot scale testing is expected this winter, in accordance with a project time line. The agreement was memorialized as an amendment to the Statement of Work required under the 2004 Administrative Order on Consent between EPA, Mills Gap Road Associates, and CTS.

The pilot-scale testing involves injecting ozone underground where groundwater and the affected springs come together. Ozone, which is a powerful oxidant, destroys TCE through a chemical reaction. The study would determine if this method of injecting ozone will be effective given the local conditions. If the testing concludes that the ozone injection system significantly reduces TCE contamination in the springs, full-scale implementation would follow. Because EPA believes that the TCE vapors detected in ambient air stem from surface waters that begin at the contaminated springs, it is possible that the ozone injection system at the springs would mitigate TCE vapors in ambient air, as well as in surface water.

The site consists of approximately nine acres of maintained grounds containing a large, single-story building. From 1959 to 1986, CTS operated an electroplating facility at the site. The chemical compound TCE was employed by CTS to clean and/or degrease metal objects prior to electroplating. In 1987, Mills Gap Road Associates (MGRA) purchased the site and is the current owner.

In 2002, EPA, CTS, and MGRA entered into an Administrative Order on Consent to conduct a Time-Critical Removal Action at the site. CTS and MGRA were required to address contamination in the area above the aquifer saturated with groundwater, and a soil vapor extraction system was constructed for this purpose. The system was completed in July 2006 and has removed more than 3,600 pounds of contaminants.

In April 2008, 10 springs near the former CTS plant were sampled by the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources (NCDENR) through a cooperative agreement with EPA. One spring was measured with elevated levels of TCE. EPA recently repeated the sampling of 72 homes within a one mile radius of the site.

NCDENR is the lead agency for the groundwater cleanup portion of the site. CTS, under the oversight of NCDENR, recently began a site assessment of groundwater with installation of the first set of groundwater monitoring wells. The CTS Health Assessment, lead by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, is currently in the development phase.

For more information on the site, visit www.epaosc.net/MillsGap.

18 Federal Agencies Gather in Seattle to Accept EPA's "Federal Green Challenge"
When senior executives from 18 Pacific Northwest federal agencies gather at the University of Washington's Center for Urban Horticulture, their goal is ambitious. They plan to reduce the federal government's "carbon footprint" in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest by approximately 9 million pounds by next year (roughly equivalent to 450,000 gallons of gasoline saved). The program is also expected to save approximately $1.8 million.

Sponsored by the EPA, this gathering will provide a venue for leaders to "talk shop" and share strategies to meet their reduction goals. To meet their own challenge locally, the EPA regional office has conducted an energy, water transportation, and waste management inventory and is challenging other federal agencies in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington to do the same.

Meeting attendees will also hear Joe Cascio, U.S. Federal Environmental Executive, illustrate the dramatic impact of the federal government's consumption of goods and services and how that purchasing power can be harnessed to create positive environmental change. For example, the government:

• is the country's largest buyer/user of energy ($3.5 billion/year)
• accounts for 7% of the world's information technology purchases
• controls a real estate portfolio of more than 1.2 million assets, including more than 550,000 buildings.

The meeting will also feature the awarding of two "Champions of Environmental Leadership and Green Government" awards, one to Kenai Fjords National Park, and the other to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Western Washington Fish and Wildlife Office Recycling Team.

Participating Federal Green Challenge agencies, entities, and facilities include: the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; General Services Administration, U.S Army Corps. of Engineers; the National Park Service; Bureau of Land Management; the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Federal Aviation Administration; Social Security Administration; National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Coast Guard; U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service; U.S. Department of Agriculture (Forest Service, National Resource Conservation Service, Rural Development); U.S. Department of Transportation (Federal Transit Administration) and the U.S. Geological Survey, the Bonneville Power Administration and the U.S. Army (Fort Lewis, WA).

Greka Violates Enforcement Order, EPA Takes Over
Greka Oil and Gas, Inc. has failed to meet multiple clean up deadlines set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency at their Gato Ponds lease. As a result, the EPA has assumed control of a portion of clean up activities at Gato Ponds. The EPA is taking over the most critical activities and the federal government will then seek reimbursement of those costs from Greka.

The EPA first assumed clean up responsibilities from Greka in 2005, following the first Zaca lease spill. The EPA stepped in again to assume clean up from Greka earlier this year following their Bell lease spill because the company repeatedly failed to meet federal standards.

The EPA ordered Greka to mitigate the hazards at Gato ponds due to their close proximity to Cat Canyon Creek. The ponds were leaking in multiple locations and posed an extreme hazard for a spill. There are several drainage pathways leading from Gato ponds to the riparian habitat next to the Creek and then into the creek itself. The creek flows to the Santa Maria River, which flows to the Pacific Ocean. Downstream from the Gato Ponds, the creek is the home to threatened and endangered species.

At the direction of the EPA, and in conjunction with federal, state, and local authorities Greka has been engaged in clean up efforts at the Gato Ponds spill site. The EPA is taking this action because Greka Oil and Gas, Inc. violated the EPA's "Order for Removal, Mitigation, and Prevention of a Substantial Threat of Oil Discharge," Docket No. OPA 311-09-2008-0005. In a letter dated August 7, 2008, the EPA amended the order to include multiple deadlines for different stages of work. Greka has failed to meet these deadlines.

Greka may face fines and penalties pursuant to order, for the violations. The law allows for fines of up to $32,500 per day, for each violation.

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SOURCE: EPA