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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08.a. Contract with Acme Fill Corproation re treated landfill leachateCentral Contra Costa Sanitary District Q Q • ' BOARD OF DIRECTORS • POSITION PAPER Board Meeting Date: September 15, 2011 Subject: AUTHORIZE THE GENERAL MANAGER TO EXECUTE A PERMIT CONTRACT WITH ACME FILL CORPORATION FOR DISCHARGE OF TREATED LANDFILL LEACHATE Submitted By: Timothy Potter, Environmental Compliance Superintendent REVIEWED AND RECOMMENDED FOR BOARD ACTION: r_ ?� �,` T. Potter A. Farrell Aim Initiating Dept. /Div.: Engineering /Environmental Services ames M. lolly General Manager ISSUE: Wastewater Discharge Permit Contracts for Class I Industrial Users must be approved by the Board of Directors. RECOMMENDATION: Authorize the General Manager to execute a 3 -year Permit Contract with Acme Fill Corporation for discharge of treated leachate through September 30, 2014. FINANCIAL IMPACTS: No adverse financial impacts are anticipated from entering into this contractual agreement with Acme. Source Control, laboratory, and legal costs will be recovered as billable activities. Treatment plant and collection system costs will be recovered through the Sewer Service Charge. ALTERNATIVES /CONSIDERATIONS: Two alternatives to the proposed Permit Contract were considered: 1) discontinue accepting the treated leachate; or 2) authorize the discharge of treated leachate through the District's existing Class II Industrial User Permit Program instead of a special permit. Neither alternative is preferred over the proposed Permit Contract. Acme Fill Corporation has limited options to properly dispose of the landfill leachate generated. The Permit Contract gives the District more ability to customize the requirements over the Class II Industrial User Permit. BACKGROUND: Acme's pretreated landfill leachate has been accepted by the District since the early 1990s, and through permit contracts since 1994. A permit contract was used to protect the District and to preserve the right to modify the discharge conditions or stop receiving the treated leachate. The District chose to receive the leachate after encouragement from the Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB) because the District's acceptance of the leachate under strict conditions provided the best regional environmental solution. The term of the current Permit Contract was extended twice at Acme's request to allow time to complete a study of the effects of eliminating the use of Powered Activated N: \ENVRSRV\Source Control\Acme \Contract \Final PP 9- 15- 11.doc Page 1 of 4 POSITION PAPER Board Meeting Date: September 15, 2011 Subject: AUTHORIZE THE GENERAL MANAGER TO EXECUTE A PERMIT CONTRACT WITH ACME FILL CORPORATION FOR DISCHARGE OF TREATED LANDFILL LEACHATE Carbon (PAC) within the treatment processes of the Leachate Treatment Plant (LTP). PAC was required by the LTP because it addressed operational problems that were encountered with the LTP in 1994. Acme requested the PAC special study to determine if PAC could be removed from the LTP treatment processes to substantially reduce the cost of operating the LTP including the cost of PAC, reduced volume of hazardous waste in LTP solids transported off -site, and lower hazardous waste taxes due to reduced volume of sludge. Addition of PAC to the LTP stopped in November 2010. Monitoring of the LTP effluent identified that removal of pollutants of concern (e.g. mercury, PCBs, dioxin compounds, organic compounds) did not decline with the removal of PAC. In addition, there do not appear to have been any operational problems with the LTP or noted impacts on the District's treatment plant since the PAC was removed from the LTP system. During the term of the current Permit Contract including extensions, Acme has operated the LTP in compliance with the conditions of the Permit Contract except for two limit violations: ammonia in February 2011 and mercury in July 2011. These were the first violations for these pollutant parameters since Permit Contracts were used to authorize the LTP discharges. Notices of Violation (NOVs) were issued for both of these limit violations. Acme responded to both citations identifying concerns about the analytical quality of the data. With regards to the ammonia limit violation, the operational conditions of the LTP did not change and the analytical results before and after were in the normal range well below the ammonia limit. With regards to the mercury limit violation, Acme identified concerns about the analytical data quality, but the lab confirmed the validity of the data. The District will monitor the monthly effluent mercury data submitted by Acme to ensure a trend does not develop with regards to increased mercury in the discharge. The proposed Permit Contract maintains the protections in the previous Permit Contract, addresses certain changes requested by Acme representatives to reduce their compliance costs, and includes modifications in response to the PAC special study. District staff believes these changes are acceptable and do not significantly increase the risk to our facilities from the Acme discharge. The proposed Permit Contract contains the following significant changes over the current Permit Contract: The requirement to use PAC in the treatment processes of the LTP is removed resulting in significant cost savings to Acme. The Permit Contract allows the District to require upgrades to the LTP treatment processes which can be used to require the reintroduction of PAC should future monitoring indicate it would be needed; • The self- monitoring program required of Acme is modified to incorporate reductions in the self- monitoring frequency for certain pollutant parameters based on review of N: \ENVRSRV\Source Control\Acme \Contract \Final PP 9- 15- 11.doc Page 2 of 4 POSITION PAPER Board Meeting Date: September 15, 2011 subject: AUTHORIZE THE GENERAL MANAGER TO EXECUTE A PERMIT CONTRACT WITH ACME FILL CORPORATION FOR DISCHARGE OF TREATED LANDFILL LEACHATE historic data indicating non - detect or very low concentrations, or where monitoring for the parameter is no longer needed (e.g. diazinon and chlorpyrifos using ELISA method); • The self- monitoring program required of Acme is modified to increase the parameters to include PCBs and dioxin compounds analyzed using high resolution analytical methods. The frequency of Whole Effluent Toxicity (WET) testing is increased from annually to semi - annually to provide for dry and wet season monitoring without the PAC treatment; Text defining the compliance criteria for the District's Source Control Ordinance discharge prohibition for PCBs and Dioxin compounds is included since Acme will be the first Industrial User to monitor for these pollutant parameters using high resolution analytical methods. For PCBs, compliance is based on EPA Method 608 consistent with the District's PCB effluent limits; and data from EPA Method 1668C is for informational purposes. For Dioxin compounds, compliance is based on pollutants measured above the respective Minimum Level (ML) for the individual dioxin congeners; • The reduction in the required Certificate of Deposit amount from $150,000 to $50,000 that was approved during the 3/18/10 extension is incorporated. As with the previous Permit Contract, the proposed Permit Contract includes conditions that allow the District to change the leachate monitoring parameters or effluent limits to protect District facilities and operations, or to meet new regulatory requirements. The District also has the right to suspend or terminate the leachate discharge if acceptance of the treated leachate affects the District's ability to meet NPDES limits, results in the District's treatment plant being classified as a hazardous waste treatment facility, or affects the District's ability to reclaim water. Negotiations with Acme regarding the above modifications to the Permit Contact are underway. Acme has expressed concern about the increased monitoring costs associated with the high resolution analytical methods for PCBs and Dioxin compounds. Staff believes the recommended action is appropriate. However, should staff fail to reach agreement with Acme by the September 15, 2011 Board meeting, the Board may wish to consider authorizing a one month extension to the current Permit Contract in order to continue the negotiations with Acme on these monitoring program issues. Staff has concluded that approval of this contract is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). District CEQA Guidelines Section 15308 provides an exemption where a regulatory agency which is authorized by state or local ordinance to assure the maintenance or protection of the environment takes action to affect such a purpose. The execution of a Permit Contract with Acme Fill Corporation is intended to N: \ENVRSRV\Source ControMcme \Contract \Final PP 9- 15- 11.doc Page 3 of 4 POSITION PAPER Board Meeting Date: September 15, 2011 subject: AUTHORIZE THE GENERAL MANAGER TO EXECUTE A PERMIT CONTRACT WITH ACME FILL CORPORATION FOR DISCHARGE OF TREATED LANDFILL LEACHATE maintain and protect the waters and other aspects of the environment. Approval of this contract will establish the Board of Directors' independent finding that this contract is exempt from CEQA. RECOMMENDED BOARD ACTION: Authorize the General Manager to execute the proposed Permit Contract with Acme Fill Corporation for discharge of treated landfill leachate from the Acme Landfill located in Martinez, California through September 30, 2014. Alternatively, if agreement has not been reached with Acme Fill Corporation by the September 15, 2011 Board meeting, authorize the General Manager to extend the existing contract for one month through October 31, 2011. N: \ENVRSRV\Source Contro1\Acme \Contract \Fina1 PP 9- 15- 11.doc Page 4 of 4