The DEP Division of Water and Waste Management held its quarterly meeting to discuss water quality standards on June 30, 2011. Kevin Coyne, Assistant Director DWWM, led the discussion.
John Wirts reported on water data reporting, although I missed the first half of his presentation. (John has now been promoted to Pat Campbell’s old job and is now managing the Watershed Assessment Branch. Pat Campbell is now Deputy Director.) He said that recent data from DEP monitoring is not in STORET (Storage and Retrieval Data Warehouse http://www.epa.gov/storet/ ), which is the national data repository. Also, state benthic data is not found on STORET.
Jason Heath of the Ohio River Water Sanitation Compact (ORSANCO) talked about the changes that have been recommended by the public for changes to the Pollution Control Standards for the Ohio River, which ORSANCO Commissioners will consider this fall:
Selenium – if EPA finalizes its revised criteria for selenium, which at one time was going to be based on fish body burden, ORSANCO may adopt it.
Bromides – Bromides contribute to TMH formation and are a problem for public water suppliers. High levels of bromides have been found in some Pennsylvania tributaries.
Temperature – review of information on aquatic life indicate minor adjustments to the criteria are needed. In addition, there have been implementation questions (how temperature limits are written into permits) and there is a question as to whether maximum temperatures are required for human health criteria.
Design flow - it is not always clear under what river flow conditions certain water quality criteria apply. Changes may be made to clarify design flow for all criteria.
Ammonia – new criteria may be required for protection of certain mussel species. However, a proposed 1 mg/l for discharge would be more stringent for much of the year.
Nutrients - developing nutrient (e.g., nitrogen and phosphorus) criteria would be a 10 year process, with no resolution in sight. ORSANCO is currently discussing new approaches to nutrient criteria development.
Mercury – the current criterion of 12 parts per trillion may not be necessary since the adoption of a fish tissue level of .3 mg/kg was adopted. ORSANCO is forming a special work group to consider that change.
Manganese – the secondary MCL is 50 ug/l, but there is some problem with “black water” at 20 ug/l. Treatment for manganese sometimes causes problem in treatment for bromides.
Formal proposal of changes to ORSANCO’s Pollution Control Standards will be made around February of 2012, with public comment through the Spring of 2012.
In other activity, at its June meeting the ORSANCO Commission adopted a TDS limit of 500 mg/L at the intake of a public water supply, but it is not being currently applied because there is a question as to whether a proper vote was taken. In addition, the Commission is working on a procedure for evaluating variance requests.
Following the presentation by Mr. Heath, Dave Flannery explained a situation that has arisen at a First Energy (Mon Power) power plant that discharges to Daugherty Run. The permit writer has assumed that the Category A use (public water supply) applies on that stream, whereas the West Virginia water quality standards only require the application of the Category B (aquatic life protection) and Category C (water contact recreation) uses. First Energy is asking that the DEP apply the water quality standards as written, since Daugherty Run is too small to be a public water supply, and in any event the company owns the property on either side, so no one could introduce a water withdrawal pipe. First Energy also had concerns about the Category C arsenic criterion of 10 ug/l, which is more stringent than any of our neighboring states. In response, Mike Becher, the lawyer representing plaintiffs who have sued to prevent the relief requested by First Energy, explained that they don’t want to see the changes made, which they believe would degrade the stream.
The next quarterly meeting will be held sometime in September.
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