Environmental Assessment for the new sanitary sludge land application sites at the Savannah River Site

摘要

Action is necessary to allow the Savannah River Site (SRS) to provide for efficient disposal of sanitary sludge for SRS as forecast by the latest site projections (WSRC, 1991) and modified by the latest US Department of Energy (DOE) planning guidance for SRS (Stello, 1993). From 1986 to 1992, sanitary wastewater sludge was applied on SRS lands in accordance with a South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC) permit as part of the reclamation of SRS's F- and H-Area borrow pits (disturbed land). This reclamation is essentially complete and, if land disposal of sludge is to continue, new land application sites on SRS must be selected as the extended permit for applying sludge to the borrow pits expired in 1992. Currently, sludge is being trucked offsite for disposal by a subcontractor to a Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTW) near Augusta, Georgia (WSRC, 1992a). This Environmental Assessment (EA) has been prepared by DOE to assess the potential environmental impacts of onsite land disposal of treated sanitary sewage sludge from SRS. The proposed action is to replace the present offsite disposal of the treated sanitary sludge from existing SRS wastewater treatment plants with onsite reuse through land application. The proposed action is independent of SRS production operations and is necessary for more efficient disposal of SRS sanitary sludge at lower costs. The proposed land application at SRS is treated as part of the preliminary Reconfiguration Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) ''No Action'' alternative (DOE, 1991). The sludge from SRS sanitary wastewater treatment plants is nonhazardous. Onsite disposal of this sludge allows SRS to comply with current DOE policies to keep any DOE wastes onsite where possible and to eliminate any potential accidents due to continuing offsite transportation of sanitary wastes (DOE, 1990a).