The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink AboutNC0000311_NOV WET 2003_20030820 rt State of North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources Division of Water Quality 59 Woodfin Place Asheville,North Carolina 28801 August 20,2003 CERTIFIED MAIL RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED AUG 2 9 2003 Mr.Edwin E. Morrow MB Industries L QUALITY PO Box 1118 r;., �j SOi;F;(E BhANCH Rosman, North Carolina 28772 SUBJECT: NOTICE OF VIOLATION Whole Effluent Toxicity (WET)Testing Copper and Zinc Action Level Policy NPDES Permit No. NC0000311 MB Industries WWTP Transylvania County Dear Mr. Morrow: This is to inform you that a review of your toxicity self-monitoring report form for the month of June 2003 indicates a violation of the toxicity limitation specified in your NPDES Permit. You should undertake necessary actions to eliminate or reduce effluent toxicity to acceptable levels. In addition,this correspondence contains important information on the Division's Copper and Zinc Action Level Policy which is triggered by two or more toxicity limit violations that occur during the toxicity testing calendar quarter specified by the toxicity testing special condition of your NPDES Permit. Attachments addressing policy implementation and a copy of the Division's Toxicity Reduction Guidance have been included with this Notice of Violation. You should initiate follow-up toxicity testing upon a single WET test failure which occurs during the toxicity testing calendar quarter. Your facility is currently monitoring for copper and/or zinc and the data indicate that the levels of copper/zinc in your effluent have the potential to cause an exceedance of the NC water quality action level for this(these)parameter(s) in your receiving stream during low stream flow conditions. The policy states that whenever a facility experiences two or more toxicity limit violations during a toxicity testing calendar quarter,the NPDES Permit will be modified to include numeric limits for copper and/or zinc UNLESS the permittee provides one or more of the following: 1. Instream measurements of dissolved metal during low flow conditions that demonstrate i. compliance with the Action Level standard 2. A revision of the prospective permit limit using improved inputs that in concert with existing or additional monitoring data demonstrates compliance with the Action Level standard 3. Toxicity Identification Evaluation(TIE)results that definitively rule out copper and/or zinc as causes of effluent toxicity , 4. Demonstration by an alternative method approved by the Division and EPA that copper and/or zinc is not the cause of toxicity 2 The Division has evaluated your copper and/or zinc monitoring data. The Division has also developed a prospective NPDES permit limit based on your facility's instream waste concentration,the copper and/or zinc action level criterion and a translator procedure. Based on this data your prospective copper permit limit is 16 pg/L and your prospective zinc permit limit is 166 pg/L. The permittee,upon experiencing two or more toxicity limit violations during a toxicity testing calendar quarter must either provide DWQ with: a) Written notification indicating acceptance of the prospective copper and/or zinc permit limit. Notification is due within 30 days after the date of 1 the second WET Notice of Violation. J .I OR b) Written notification indicating your choice of option(s)as noted on page one of this correspondence. Notification is due within 30 days after the date of the second WET Notice of Violation. DWQ approval of options 1-3 (previous page)is not necessary as the Division expects work to rule out copper and/or zinc as causative effluent toxicants to begin immediately upon the second WET permit limit violation. Written notification(a or b above) shall be sent to: North Carolina Division of Water Quality Environmental Sciences Branch Aquatic Toxicology Unit 1621 Mail Service Center Raleigh,North Carolina 27699-1621 Please note that if you choose item b) above,you will be given nine months to submit documentation that eliminates copper and/or zinc as causative effluent toxicants. Your final report should be comprehensive and include all data used to support your conclusion(s). Should the data indicate copper and/or zinc as the source of effluent toxicity or if the data are inconclusive as to copper and/or zinc's role as a toxicity source, then the NPDES Permit will be reopened and the metal limits specified above will be applied to the permit. The report is due nine months after the date of the second WET Notice of Violation. Three copies of the final report shall be submitted to: North Carolina Division of Water Quality Environmental Sciences Branch Aquatic Toxicology Unit 1621 Mail Service Center Raleigh, North Carolina 27699-1621 You should consider submitting the above correspondence certified mail. I Failure to notify DWQ of your acceptance of a copper and/or zinc limit,failure to notify j DWQ of your option selection or failure to make acceptable demonstration to DWQ that copper and/or zinc are not causative effluent toxicants within the stated time frames will result in reopening of the NPDES Permit to include copper and/or zinc numeric limitations,as appropriate. L. 3 If the effluent is toxic, then we expect work to commence immediately with toxic effluent samples. Failure to initiate work with toxic effluent samples during the study period is unacceptable and will be considered a failure to make acceptable demonstration as cited above. We recommend a r minimum of three separate sampling events during the nine month period to definitively rule out copper and/or zinc as causative effluent toxicants. Please note that your actions to notify DWQ of prospective limit acceptance or to notify DWQ of plan option(s) and subsequent submission of a plan are contingent upon two or more toxicity NPDES permit limit violations occurring during a toxicity testing calendar quarter. Also note that the WET limit will remain in your NPDES permit regardless of whether metals are the source of effluent toxicity. The data resulting from your actions to disprove copper and/or zinc as sources of effluent toxicity will determine whether NPDES Permit limits will be assigned for these parameters. You are responsible for initiating actions to address these issues. You may consider entering into a Special Order by Consent(SOC) with DWQ. A SOC provides regulatory relief for specific NPDES permit limit violations and,if signed,will contain a requirement to conduct a Toxicity Reduction Evaluation. The SOC will contain a compliance schedule, stipulated penalties for failing to meet milestone activity dates and may contain upfront penalties to settle past permit limit violations. i - Additional information regarding the Division's copper and/or zinc action level policy can be found at the following web site- http://www.esb.enr.state.nc.us. Click on the"Aquatic Toxicology"Unit and go to the prompt"AT Downloadable Files"located at the bottom of the page. i This web site also contains EPA's"Toxicity Reduction Evaluation Guidance for Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plants." Section 4 of this document contains pertinent information on Toxicity Identification Evaluations. If you have any questions concerning this correspondence,please contact me at(828)251-6208 or Mr. Matt Matthews, Supervisor of the Aquatic Toxicology Unit at(919) 733-2136. Sincerely, j k• �� Forrest Westall Regional Water Quality Supervisor ATTACFHAENTS i cc: Asheville Regional Office (no attachments) Susan Wilson-NPDES Unit(no attachments) Madolyn Dominy-USEPA Region IV,Atlanta Federal Center,61 Forsyth St.,SW,Atlanta,GA 30303 ti (no attachments) Central Files(no attachments) ' Aquatic Toxicology Unit Files(no attachments) r r