Southern Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant - Executive Summary

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The City of Hollywood Southern Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant is rated at 42.0 million gallons per day of treated wastewater effluent. The plant utilizes a Liquid Oxgen (LOx) Activated Sludge Processs to treat municipal wastewater from the City of Hollywood and some surrounding communities. The plant is regulated by the following federal, state, and local agencies: the Environmental Protetion Agency, the State of Florida Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, the Broward County Department of Natural Resource Protection, and the South Florida Water Management District. 
 
Chlorine is used as a primary disinfectant of the plant's effluent and filtered reuse water. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) classifies chlorine in any form (gaseous or liquid) as an Extremely Hazardous Substance (EHS). It is stored on-site in one (1) ton cylinders in an enclosed building and average usage is approximately one th 
ousand four hundred (1,400) pounds per day. 
 
Accidental releases, Worst-Case and Alternative-Case, were determined using the RMPComp program on the EPA's web-site. 
 
A Worst-Case scenario assumes a release from a storage vessel (one ton cylinder) of two thousand (2,000) pounds of chlorine in ten (10) minutes with a wind speed of three-point-four (3.4) miles per hour. The estimated distance to the toxic end-point of such a release would be approximately 0.9 miles 
from the epi-center and affect approximately 9,400 residents. it is highly unlikely that a release of this magnitude would occurr because of engineering controls, maintenance procedures, and standard operating procedures in place at the SRWWTP.  
 
The Alternative-Case scenario assumes a release of fifty (50) pounds from the same storage vessel (one ton cylinder) in ten (10) minutes.The toxic end-point ofsuch a release would be approximately 0.1 miles from the epi-center and would affect approximately 1,900 residents. 
 
Chlorine v 
aporizes at very low temperatures and because it is contained in an enclosure at the SRWWTP, it is highly unlikely that any amount would be reach the toxic end-points. 
 
The SRWWTP is covered under OSHA's "Process Safety Management of Highly Hazardous Chemical" standard codified as 29 CFR 1910.119. The standard is intended to "... provide methods for systematically assessing the consequences related to preventing unwanted releases of hazardious chemicals into locations which could expose employees and others to serious hazard." The programs in place enable employees and others to identify and understand the hazards of processes covered by 29 CFR 1910.119. Plant personnel provide Preventive Maintenace (PM) and Corrective Maintenance (CM) on the chlorine system to reduce the liklihood of an accidental release. They also are trained in Standard Operating Procedures for Storage and Deliver, Changing Chlorine Cylinders, and several other related topics. Gas monitors and alarm horns are strat 
egically located in the chlorine area to alert employees and others in the event of an accidental release. A scrubber system using caustic soda to neutralize the leak to less than 0.5 ppm is on-line. The chlorine vendor priovides training to Operations and Maintenance Personnel on hazards, handling, and release prevention. 
 
We have had one (1) accidental release (June 1998) of approximately two thousand (2,000) pounds of chlorine in the past five years. Plant personnel were evacuated, emergency crews responded and no persons off-site required medical attention. 
 
The facility has on-site an Emergency Action Plan co-ordinated with the State of Florida Emergency Respone Commission, Broward County Department of Natural Resource Protection, the Local emergency Planning Council, the City of Hollywood Fire Department, and the City of Hollywood Risk Management Division. Employees are trained in emergency response, accident and incident reporting, first-aid, fire prevention, hazard communicatio 
n, confined spaces, slips, trips, and falls, cardio pulmonary resuscitation, fire extinguisher usage and handling among other topics. Chlorine drills, coordinated with the City of Hollywood Fire Department and others, are held quarterly to asses readiness of equipment and people in the event of an accidental release.
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