Wastewater utility officials are concerned that EPA's strict new water quality criteria for ammonia will force regulators to set first-time permit limits or strengthen existing requirements at treatment plants, forcing installation of costly new de-nitrification technologies to comply. "Some engineers and water quality experts out mere say it's going to lead to a lot more ammonia permit limits, that the numbers are low enough that you're going to see potentially hundreds more wastewater treatment plants get ammonia limits, or stricter limits than what they have now," one industry source says. A state wastewater industry source agrees that the stricter numbers that EPA adopted in the final criteria are "obviously a concern" because of the regulatory requirements that will result.
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