Risk Assessment in Development of Municipal Sludge Incineration Regulations under 405(d) of the Clean Water Act

摘要

The need for effective sludge management is continual and growing. In the United States, the quantity of municipal sludge produced annually has almost doubled since 1972. The U.S. EPA established an Agency Sludge Task Force in 1982. In 1983 one of the Task Force's major recommendations was to develop a comprehensive technical regulatory program under Section 405(d) of the Clean Water Act that requires the U.S. EPA to develop and issue regulations which (1) identify uses for sludge including disposal; (2) specify factors to be taken into account in determining the measures and practices applicable for each use or disposal (including costs); and (3) identify concentrations of pollutant which interfere with each use or disposal. The major areas discussed in this manuscript are; regulation development, incineration, selection of model plants, air dispersion modeling, most exposed individual, risk level, reference air concentration and an example calculation.