NC0020737_Report_20180321

THE CITY OF KINGS MOUNTAIN
Maaee, •;N # IRs.' S P.O.BOX 429 • KINGS MOUNTAIN,NORTH CAROLINA 28086 • 704-734-0333
S _tel ow i;..Y �.
March 21, 2018
Derek Denard
North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality RECEIVED/CENR/DWR
Water Quality Division
1617 Mail Service Center APR -2 2018
Raleigh, NC 27699-1617 Water Resources
Permitting Section
Subject: April 2018 Status Report for Pilot Creek WWTP
Mr. Denard,
The City of Kings Mountain holds NPDES Permit NC0020737. After receipt of the extended
Special Order of Consent (SOC) by the Environmental Management Commision, Pilot Creek has
submitted quarterly Status Reports; informing the State, of ongoing efforts made to reduce
thallium in the collection system for the City of Kings Mountain. These reports will be
submitted quarterly until May 31, 2020, as stated in the Scheduled Activity section, Section 2.
(b).
SteagSCR Tech haspurchased Coremetech, LLC. Due to branding, the Coremetech name will become
g,
the official name for Steag.
Coremetech and City of KM TI data to date:
The following monthly data has been collected for 2018 regarding testing results for thallium at both
Pilot Creek WWTP and Coremetech (results are in mg/L):
0.035 - Coremetech vs.-KM
0.03
0.025
0.02 —7 ■Coremetch TI Results
E 0.015 ■KM TI Results
0.01 -7
0.005 /J
0 r
Dec. 2017 Jan. 2018 Feb.2018
The Historical City

2016-2017 Coremetech Thallium Results for Comparison
(Please note axis range)
2016 TI Results
20
1s16
14
12
2016 TI Results 2016
E10
8 LIMIT
6
4
2
1.4
2017 TI Results
1.2
1
0.8
2017 TI Results
LIMIT
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
A thallium reduction of 92.8% has been achieved from 2016-2017. This shows the efforts Coremetech
has made in their treatment process for thallium reduction.

1

Pilot Creek's 2016-2017 thallium data for comparison:
120
PC Effluent 2016
100
I
80
mad 60 - PC Effluent 2016
—SOC LIMIT
—NPDES LIMIT
40
20
0 I I I I I I I
a'b" IV be<e4 mac �V- �aJ �>J� o��J o PJB ��eQ RO` o�\` J 'Ck
70 -
PC Effluent 2017
60 -
50
40
—PC Effluent 2017
—
30 SOC LIMIT
NPDES LIMIT
20
10
41 0 I I I
h ac at h�a� h�J\ e� h�oJ �N-b heat h�a� , hcse� hyo,
A reduction of 56.8%has been achieved from 2016 to 2017.

Steag/Coremetech Progress Reports:
Received status report from Coremetech on 1/18/2018.The time the frame for this report was
12/16/17-1/12/18.This report stated the membrane technology continuous flow pilot unit trial is
progressing. As of now the unit runs as expected. Coremetech will be in touch with vendor and internal
project personnel with all the results and inputs to improve the process as needed. The first trial
completed reflecting J&T's set-up parameters where RX1 had -500mV ORP and RX2 had -10mV ORP.
Second stage was started with the goal of running a trial after accomplishing positive ORP on RX2 tank.
The addition of FeSO4 and KMnO4 was adjusted to provide for a positive ORP. Some instrumentation
on the pilot skid required maintenance; this has put the trial on hold until repaired. J&T will visit the site
and perform the work needed.
Received report by POTW on 02/19/2018 for the time frame of 1/13/18-2/16/18. This reports
highlighted the membrane technology continuous flow pilot unit trials progression and the visit to the
site from the Waste Reduction Partners on 2/8/2018. Membrane Technology continuous flow pilot unit
required maintenance performed on the pilot skid and continuous trial work resumed.
Meetings/Conferences
01/22/2018: Met with Coremetech/Steag to discuss the Tetra Tech thallium report. Coremetech agreed
to contact Mr. Albrecht to assist in possible solutions in reducing the amount of thallium released into
the City of Kings Mountains collection system. Coremetech wants to set a meeting with DEQ/DWR to
present the Tetra Tech report for review. The City recommended Coremetech contact Terry Albrecht
prior to setting this meeting to get his opinion on other treatment options.
02/14/2018:The City contacted Terry Albrecht in Waste Reduction Partnership to discuss thallium
reduction plans. He informed us that Coremetech reached out to his department, and engineers visited
the site to assist in thallium reduction on 2/8/18. These engineers included Marshall Goers, and Greg
Goodman. Mr. Albrecht suggested the City review the headworks analysis. After review we determined
updating the headworks analysis will not benefit the thallium limit for Coremetech. Coremetech is also
planning on adding a micro filtration to their treatment system. Mr. Albrecht believes that even with
doing so,the side stream waste will still be there.
02/26/2018: Phone conference held with Marcia Allocco. The City explained the EPAs recommended
guidance for using the harmonic mean flow when determining thallium limits. Tetra Tech's report
indicates this guidance and the limits when using this method.
Goals of the upcoming meeting with DWR were discussed as well. This included: 1) Present Coremetech
data from 2016 to date 2)Show process improvements and effect on POTW 3) Discuss TI limit and offer
alternative method for determining the next thallium limit set on the POTW's permit renewal.
Marcia recommended the following individuals attend the meeting:Julie Gryzb, Sergei,John Hennesy
and Derek Denard. A proposed date was set for March 6th at 10:00am at the Raleigh Office. This date
was changed to March 5th at 10:00am.

02/26/2018: Conference call was made with Coremetech to discuss the conversation with Marcia
(mentioned above).
03/02/2018: Conference call with Coremetech to discuss the goals of the DWR/DEQ meeting. The main
goal was to express the recommended guidance from EPA for determining thallium limits using the
harmonic mean flow of the receiving stream. The end result will determine if Coremetech will be able
to remain in Kings Mountain. Failure to obtain a reasonable thallium limit for the City could cause 100+
employees to lose their jobs.
03/05/2018: Meeting held in the Raleigh office to discuss the thallium report prepared by Tetra Tech.
Attached is the presentation which was presented during this meeting.
03/13/2018:Spoke with Marshall Goers with Waste Reduction Partners. Mr. Goers will be at the Pilot
Creek WWTP on 3/19/18 to assist in developing a plan at the WWTP to remove thallium within the
plants process.The result of this assistance will be conveyed to DEQ upon completion.
03/19/2018: Mr. Goers and Terry Albrecht visited site in order to obtain data for review in assisting
with thallium removal at Pilot Creek. Once the data is reviewed,they will get back in touch with me
with their suggestions.
Future Plan for Pilot Creek WWTP in thallium reduction:
The City plans to clean all of our basins in the next 5 years. This job has been quoted at approximately
$900,000.00 per basin. We believe by removing the old sludge in our systems,this will help with the
effluent discharge of thallium from the City of Kings Mountain WWTP due to the fact thallium can only
be removed from a biological process through sludge removal.
The City is also contacting Terry Albrecht for other treatment options on removing thallium in our
biological process. After receiving his findings we will submit those with the next status report.
Pilot Creek will continue to run the belt press and monitor thallium as required.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact me anytime.
Sincerely,
/l,
Richelle Meek
City of Kings Mountain
WWTP Superintendent/Pretreatment Coordinator
[e-mail]
Office#: [phone]