Regulations on the Disposal of Arsenic Residual from Drinking Water TreatmentPlants

摘要

This report summarizes federal and selected state regulations that govern themanagement of residuals produced by small water treatment systems removing arsenic from drinking water. The document focuses on the residuals produced by five treatment processes: anion exchange, activated alumina, iron/manganese removal, media absorption, and membrane processes. For each technology, a brief description of the treatment process is given along with a discussion of the residuals production characteristics. Following the process description section are sections on the federal regulations that apply to residual management and the regulations imposed by seven states: Arizona, California, Maine, Nebraska, New Mexico, Nevada, and Pennsylvania. The review of the state regulations focuses on characterizing the requirements that apply to different management options for liquid and solid residuals. The many components of the state regulations were generally found to be consistent with the federal minimum requirements. The state programs differed from the federal program and each other in several aspects, however, including surface water quality standards applicable to control the amount of arsenic in direct discharge of the liquid effluent, the local limits that specify how much arsenic may be discharged to a sanitary sewer system, the regulation of solid waste landfills, the protection of ground water resources, and the regulation of land application activities.