The cost for the TCH course, meals and the harbor boat cruise is $800 per person.

The Deer Island tour is FREE.

You will earn up to 5 TCHs for this course. PAI will be conducting the workshops on board one of Boston Harbor Tours’ boats. Breakfast and lunch will be served on board. After the course is complete we will dock at Deer Island and take a tour of the grounds and treatment plant. The Deer Island tour will be run by MWRA staff, and is sponsored by WOOMA, the non-profit Wastewater Operators of Massachusetts Association.

The cost for the TCH course, meals and the harbor boat cruise is $800 per person.

The Deer Island tour is FREE. If you would like to attend ONLY the Deer Island tour, and not earn any TCHs, you are welcome to find transportation to the island and join our group for the tour.

Register today!

Boston, MA – Leading environmental firm Practical Applications, Inc. (PAI) has been awarded the contract to build the central wastewater treatment system for the plant expansion project at Tribe Foods, Inc., a subsidiary of Nestle, SA.

Tribe Foods Wastewater Treatment System - DAF Unit supplied by Krofta

Wastewater generated during food manufacturing operations is controlled using Dissolved Air Flotation. Designed to meet strict Massachusetts sewer discharge limits, wastewater in the system is continuously treated at 50,000 gallons per day with peak flows of 200 gallons per minute.

Composed of a 12,000 gallon equalization tank, pH Neutralization controls, coagulant and polymer dosing, rotary drum screening, and sludge dewatering, the system incorporates PAI’s automatic control package and integrated expert knowledge software to predict and prevent system upset. The system is housed in a custom-built 400 square foot packaged steel building.

PAI has been designing, building, and operating wastewater treatment systems since 1994. Our systems are designed and built by operating engineers and technicians who understand that an effective system must ensure performance while remaining economical to operate and maintain.

Is There Mercury In Your Industrial Wastewater Discharge?

This article was written by Practical Applications’ biologist Kimberly Baxter and originally appeared in the December 2005 issue of Plumbing Engineer magazine. A PDF of the article is available HERE.

Abstract

An assessment of sampling locations for three industrial wastewater effluent piping systems is presented. The assessments provided demonstrate that by installing sampling ports at the appropriate location along an effluent stream’s piping system, truly representative samples can be collected. These real and accurate results scientifically prove that a specific industrial wastewater discharge does not contain mercury levels that will trigger regulatory enforcement action.

Continue reading…

MA Wastewater Operator Exam Training

The Practical Applications industry-leading Wastewater Operator Training Exam Prep Course will be held for 8 weeks this Autumn.
Participants will be introduced to every element of the state exam, run by the New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission (NEIWPCC).
The course is held on Thursday mornings from 8:00 to 11:00 at Practical Applications’ South Boston training center, starting on October 1 and concluding on November 19. The state exam will be held in multiple locations on Saturday, November 21.

THIS COURSE IS FULL

Boston, MA – Practical Applications, Inc. (PAI), a leading environmental company, has been awarded the contract to design and build the central wastewater treatment system for the new David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research At MIT. The system is designed to treat wastewater flows continuously at 215,000 GPD (gallons per day) with peak flows at 300 GPM (gallons per minute).
The system employs pH neutralization/pH adjustment to control wastewater generated from laboratory research activities. The system is designed to meet strict compliance discharge limits according to Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) sewer discharge regulations.

Koch Institute at MIT Wastewater Treatment System - Elevation View

The system comprises two 2,200-Gallon treatment tanks followed by a corrosive duty pump station. The system incorporates PAI’s proven design and safety features including our transfer free DOT chemical dispensing stations for reagents and automated alarming/reporting systems.

Koch Institute at MIT Wastewater Treatment System - Plan View

PAI has been designing, building, and operating wastewater treatment systems since 1994. Our systems are designed and built by operating engineers and technicians who understand an effective system must ensure performance while remaining economical to operate and maintain.
Download a PDF of this press release.
View the MIT Koch Institute pH Neutralization System Gallery.

MA DEP

Information will be collected through an electronic survey. 1900 chemicals and approximately 3500 individual businesses will be targeted. The survey will be conducted in three phases with the first phase beginning in July.

The first phase targets all 1200 large quantity generators within the state. Notification postcards will go out in July and reporting will begin in August.

The second and third phases include a statistical representation of different business categories within the state. Approximately 2500 businesses have been chosen as part of the statistical sample. These
businesses will be split into Phases two and three, with about 1200 businesses participating in each phase. Notification will be via postcard in August for Phase II and December for Phase III. Phase II reporting begins in
mid-October and Phase III in the beginning of February.

All phases will receive a postcard about 45 days before reporting begins and a reporting package about two weeks before reporting begins. Every company will have 60 days in which to complete the report. Non-respondents will
receive a notice of non-compliance(NON). If the NON is ignored, the DEP will implement fines.

The survey is similar to other e-DEP forms. You will receive a toxic discharger id in your reporting packet. The form asks for general facility identification, toxics information, and a standard DEP certification
statement. You will be asked if you discharge wastewater to the sewer, what pretreatment you use, if you are solely or party research, and if you are a health care facility. You are then asked to compare the list of 1900
chemicals to the MSD sheets in your facility for chemicals that are discharged or have a reasonable potential to be discharged to the sewer. You are required to list all of these chemicals on the form and give a very
generalized frequency of discharge. If your company has an electronic file for the MSDSs, you will have the opportunity to upload the file to the DEP system and it will compare your MSDS with their chemical list. Their
chemical list is presented as a database searchable by name and CAS number.

Note: Research and development facilities will not have to fill out the toxics section at this time. If you are solely R&D, you must check off the box stating so and then sign the certification statement. The DEP will look
into R&D facilities further down the road.

The DEP will have training available through their website.

The DEP is looking for volunteers to come in and test the new electronic system during the first week in July. They were working on getting TCH credits for this testing. If you are interested, you can contact John
Reinhardt at: john.reinhardt@state.ma.us

We wanted to send out a notification for those who did not attend the MWRA Significant Industrial User (SIU) meetings this week.  As many of you know, the EPA audited the MWRA and its Industrial Pretreatment Program(IPP) back in December 2007.  The MWRA just received the report back and one of the requirements in the report was to change/streamline their

MWRA Rate Increase - Regulation 310 CMR 10.00

regulations.  The MWRA changed some of the terminology surrounding the adjudicatory proceedings(310 CMR 1.00) and clarified the language and provisions surrounding enforcement actions (310 CMR 2.00).  Changes to 310 CMR 10.00 included adding definitions for Best Management Practices(BMP) and New Sources, clarifying the definitions for an SIU, adding a prohibition against BOD and COD that could interfere with the POTW function, and proposing a fee increase over the next three years.  You can view the proposed regulations by visiting http://www.mwra.com/trac/proposedamendments-2009.htm.  The underlined text means an addition, a strike means a deletion.

This fee increase affects ALL industrial users.  If you have a permit, whether it is a low-flow general permit or your are a SIU, your fees will be going up.  The proposed increase is 4.5% each year for three years.  They have not raised their fees since fiscal year 2005 and are looking for feedback regarding the increase.  The informal comment period on the fee increase ends April 24th!  If you have comments regarding the fee increase (or the other regulations changes), please email Carolyn Fiore at cfiore@mwra.state.ma.us by April 24th.

Completing your Sewer Use Discharge Permit Renewal Application provides an opportunity to check your compliance with DEP and MWRA hazardous waste regulations.

• The MWRA requires you list and estimate the liquids or sludge amounts removed from your facility each year. This information is easily gathered from a call to your local waste removal vendor(s) or by reviewing your hazardous waste manifests.
• The MWRA also requires that you submit recent hazardous waste manifests for each chemical you list. Be sure to double-check that you have not missed a chemical!
• Note discrepancies in your chemical inventory versus hazardous waste lists; e.g. purchasing large chemical quantities that are not removed from the facility or disposal of chemicals not on your chemical inventory list. These discrepancies can be perfectly legitimate, like your chemical reacted to form a product, but you should be aware of them.
• If you are a large quantity generator, you may submit an annual DEP Waste Summary report in place of the hazardous waste manifests.
• While reviewing your hazardous waste manifests, check you sent out copies to the proper authorities.
• Massachusetts has additional and specific rules you must abide by including:
  • The DEP requires you to maintain hazardous waste manifest for at least three years.
  • The MWRA will also ask you if you have spill plans, toxic organic management plan, source reduction plan, etc.
• Since you have already done much of the work, you may as well double-check your generator status. Did you generate more or less this year? Should you be in a different category? Be proactive and figure it out before the DEP does.

Tune in next month for a discussion on system Grading Reports and Staffing Plans as they pertain to your permit application…

At 350,000 square feet, Genzyme Center is the largest platinum Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) building in the United States.

US Green Building Council

Buildings designed according to LEED specifications are awarded gold, silver, or platinum status based on a points system.

Buildings are awarded points based on the following:

• Sustainable sites – 14
• Water efficiency – 5
• Energy and Atmosphere – 17
• Materials and resources – 13
• Indoor environmental quality – 15
• Innovative design – 5

There are currently no tax breaks for adhering to LEED standards. However, LEED-certified buildings are eligible for grants. In addition, companies who adopt LEED building standards can achieve a reduction in operating costs.

For example, companies within the high cost Massachusetts Water Resource Authority service area may see savings within one year of installing a graywater system.

Genzyme Center’s water conservation measures reduced potable water usage by 32%, and the building’s green design, supported by integrated systems, reduced projected overall energy costs by 42%, according to Lou Capozzi from Genzyme Corporation.