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According to a rare Management Alert from the EPA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG), information reported to the Agency on chemicals released to the environment by publicly owned treatment works (POTWs) conflicted with information the OIG obtained separately from the Agency.
NPDES FAQs for Fracking Operations in the Marcellus Shale—Part 2 Q: If a publicly owned treatment works (POTW) were to consider accepting shale gas extraction (SGE) wastewater from a fracking operation, what wastewater information would the POTW need to collect? A: To meet the requirements of its own NPDES permit, a POTW operator would need […]
NPDES FAQs for Fracking Operations in the Marcellus Shale—Part 1 Q: Are hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” operations allowed to discharge wastewater directly to waters of the United States if they have a NPDES permit? A: The Clean Water Act (CWA) prohibits the discharge of pollutants by point sources into waters of the United States, except […]
EPA’s Corrective Actions to Tighten Control of Unmonitored Chemical Releases In September 2014, the OIG released its report titled, More Action Is Needed to Protect Water Resources From Unmonitored Hazardous Chemicals, which provided a look at how, despite current regulations, hazardous chemicals continue to be discharged from publicly owned treatment works (POTWs). The OIG investigations […]
10 Things to Know about the Proposed Dental Amalgam Rule—Part 1 1. The problem with amalgam discharges. Mercury is a toxic metal that can have serious neurological and developmental effects on animals and humans. Elemental mercury in dental amalgam is highly concentrated and when discharged to a POTW is generally separated with about 10 percent […]
