Environmental Supervisor Orange County Sanitation District fountain valley, CA
Presentation Description: On October 5, 2021, the State Water Board adopted a resolution to confirm that the Toxicity Provisions were adopted as State policy for water quality control for all inland surface waters, enclosed bays, estuaries, and coastal lagoons of the state. Regional Water Boards have since been implementing the associated requirements typically upon permit renewal, which largely occurs every five years. Hence, wastewater dischargers must begin planning for the significant changes to achieving toxicity compliance. The Toxicity Provisions require significant changes to toxicity requirements for municipal wastewater treatment plants, including: 1) testing frequency based on volume of discharge, 2) daily and monthly numeric effluent limits, 3) species screening followed by testing with a single species, 4) compliance determined at the instream waste concentration, 5) changes in the frequency and timing of accelerated monitoring, and 5) new TRE requirements. The goal of this presentation will be to present to WWTP managers, permit compliance officers, and laboratory staff with critical information needed to navigate through these new requirements, identify appropriate compliance strategies, and provide the latest information that will help to optimize decision making so as to increase the likelihood of passing the toxicity tests.
Learning Objectives:
After participating in this session, participants will be able to contrast new compliance requirements against past practices to be prepared for implementing the toxicity provisions.
After participating in this session, participants will be able to understand factors that influence passing and failing the toxicity statistical analysis applied in the toxicity provisions.
After this session, participants will be able to demonstrate strategies for selecting high quality laboratory services to best meet the requirements in the toxicity provisions.
