Industrial effluent guidelines: Round 2
Sanford E. Gaines ERT, Concord, M A
As we noted in a previous Regulatory Alert (ES&T, June 1979) the Clean Water Act of 1977 redirected the national water pollution control effort away from the classical pollutants toward toxic pollutants. The Environmental Protection Agency now stands prepared to give substance to the law by establishing new effluent guidelines for the primary industrial categories. EPA proposed the first of the new series of guidelines in July (leather tanning; Fed. Regist. 44, 38746). The rest will appear in a steady stream of proposed rules over the next I2 months. The next year is a critical time for individual plant managers, industrial organizations, and others concerned to participate actively i n shaping the effluent guidelines. Those guidelines will determine the discharge limitations in each facility’s N P D E S permit.
Results of the round T h e best available technology (BAT) standards for toxic constituents must be achieved by . M y 1, 1984, and limits on non-toxic, nonconventional pollutants must be achieved by July I , 1984 or within three years of a final effluent standard, whichever is later, but in no case later than 1987. Active involvement at the r ulemaking stage will help to establish a t a n early date effluent limitations that are reasonable
in light of the standards set by the Clean Water Act. T h e current round of effluent guidelines development blends the familiar with the novel. Those who observed EPA’s first attempts at writing effluent guidelines several years ago will recognize the Agency’s approach to the problem. EPA hired contractors to prepare technical and financial reports on wastewater treatment in each industry. Working from these reports, and after further meetings with industry representatives, the EPA staff identified control technology options and selected a specific technology as the benchmark for setting the effluent limitations. Because the courts generally have upheld EPA’s interpretation of economically achievable BAT and other statutory phrases in the first round of guidelines cases, EPA has applied the same technical and economic criteria to the second round.
The new guidelines More important than the familiar elements, however, are the novel elemcnts in the new guidelines. Because the law now emphasizes control of toxic substances, EPA has delved into new areas like pollution control technologies for toxic pollutants and monitoring techniques for trace levels of pollutants. Along with the new areas of technical inquiry come new questions of administration and policy. Perhaps the most significant general question is how to set limitations on the toxic constituents of an industry’s effluent. For several reasons, including a shortage of data on toxic discharge concentrations and inadequacies in toxic monitoring techniques, EPA has chosen in most cases to use “indicator” pollutants, usually conventional pollutants, to define control requirements
for toxic compounds. According to EP.4, wastewater treatment technology designed to remove the conventional pollutants also effectively removes many toxic pollutants. Therefore, EPA will establish BAT effluent limitations on conventional “indicator” pollutants that reflect BAT for removal of toxic pollutants. N o effluent limitations will be established directly for the toxic effluents, and no routine monitoring of toxic effluents will be required. The technical and legal propriety of using indicator pollutants is certainly one issue open for comment. The ney round of effluent guidelines contains other features that should also be considered when reviewing and commenting on EPA’s proposals. The so-called “conventional” pollutants (e.g., BOD, phosphorous, oil and grease) have been factored out of the BAT standards and their control evaluated under the new statutory standard of “best conventional pollutant control technology” ( B C T ) [CWA, SS30l(b) (2) (E), 304(b), ( 4 ~ . BCT will be at least as stringent as BPT (best practical technology), but in many cases will relax the BAT limits previously established. Ironically, since the “indicators” for toxic pollutants are frequently conventional pollutants, effective treatment requirements for them may be much stricter than the BCT standard would require when they function as measuring rods for BAT limitations. At the time it publishes each proposed new effluent guideline, EP.4 will make available technical and economic reports on wastewater treatment for the industry. These reports and the agency’s discussion of its proposal in the Federal Register will provide a starting point for reviewing and commenting on the proposed rules. Volume 13, Number
IO, October 1979 1201
