Action Log Update - Chlorinated Water Dumped

Chlorinated Water Being Dumped into Sligo
- May 24, 2007 Update -

Ed Murtagh
May 24, 2007

Original Posting
January 10, 2006

DEP and MDE Reports
January 11, 2006

WSSC Explanation
January 21, 2006

FoSC Members Timelines
January 22, 2006

Letter to WSSC from FoSC
January 24, 2006

WSSC Response to FoSC Letter
February 9, 2006

In January of 2006, chlorinated water was discharged into Sligo Creek. The discharge was related to work on a new WSSC water main in Wheaton. The problems started when contract work crews attempted to drain a Wheaton water main. There were two major problems:

The permits/protocols were old and outdated
The drainage system for the Wheaton area was old and obsolete.

Instead of discharging into a WSSC sewer line, the drain line discharged directly into the headwaters of Sligo Creek. Because it is flowing directly into the creek, the water should be de-chlorinated so as not to harm fish and other creatures. When the work crews attempted to install their dechlor equipment (which removes the chlorine) to the outlet of the drain (called an endwall blowoff , they found an old non-standard water main endwall blowoff. The WSSC’s Potable Water Discharge Pollution Prevention (P2) Plan had no provision for handling this situation. All the endwall blowoffs were assumed to be newer outlets to which the dechlor equipment could be attached properly. When the work crew could not install the dechlor equipment, they jury-rigged a solution that proved to be completely ineffective. To make matters worse, WSSC assumed that this was a straightforward task. Therefore, the Montgomery County Department of Environmental Protection was not notified of the impending work nor was there WSSC supervision on the installation of the dechlor equipment. Under the WSSC Permit, only the Maryland Department of Environment needs to be notified of routine work.

De-chlorination being jury-rigged at Sligo Headwaters, January 2006

According to Jim Neustadt, Director Communications & Community Relations, following the chlorinated water discharge into Sligo Creek in January 2006, WSSC's Potable Water Discharge Pollution Prevention (P2) Plan was reviewed. According to WSSC, this plan, which did not consider the existence of these non-standard endwall blowoffs in their system, needed to be updated. The revised plan includes the following:

A survey of endwall blowoffs that were built before the mid 1980s,
Testing & Implementation of new dechlor equipment,
Periodic refresher courses for WSSC Staff,
Updating the Organizational responsibilities.

Older non-standard endwall (installed in 1951) without any adaptor

Newer (circ. 1981) endwall that allows hoses or equipment housings to be attached

Endwall Blowoff Survey

According to Martin Chandler, WSSC Environmental Group, WSSC inspected about 100 of the older endwalls that were installed before the endwalls were standardized. They found approximately 15% of the 400+ endwall blowoffs to have either non-standard endwall blowoffs or discharged directly into a stormwater main. Since most of the endwall blowoffs are used relatively infrequently, it was not cost effective for WSSC to permanently modify all the endwall blowoffs. So now, a mandatory pre-use inspection form must be completed to identify if a blowoff planned for a discharge has a connection limitation.

As part of WSSC's review, they designed and tested 3 different types of endwall adaptors that can be fitted onto the non-standard endwall outlets allowing connections to hoses and the ability to connect to de-chlorination equipment.

Two of the endwall adaptors with hose connections that can be connected to the obsolete endwalls. These new outlet adaptors allow for hose connections and the use of de-chlorination equipment.

New Dechlor Equipment

As part of their review, WSSC surveyed and tested new dechlor equipment. Most of the dechlor equipment models previously used were made in the WSSC in-house shops because until recently commercial dechlor equipment was not available. A number of commercial products were tested and found to be effective in de-chlorinating potable water. The new equipment is now supplementing the original dechlor equipment adding flexibility to alternative treatment methods available.

Two of the de-chlorination equipment models tested and purchased

Refresher Training

WSSC has committed to hold staff refresher training every 2 years and when new equipment is added to the inventory.

Updating the Organizational responsibilities

Numerous organizational changes resulted from the review. The WSSC's P2 plan was updated. Trained WSSC professionals will be overseeing contractors performing "superdechlorinated" disinfection of pipes and inspecting the de-chlorination system in advance. WSSC will start coordinating with the county's Department of Environmental Protection. WSSC will start including the organizational responsibilities in their Annual Report.

Progress to date

The outcome from the P2 Plan review to date has been:

A revised P2 Plan was submitted to the Maryland Department of Environment (MDE) in August 2006
Training plan and training materials was completed
Refresher training was held in November 2006.

WSSC noted improvements in their Program. They noted that recently there was a planned discharge from the same Wheaton water main project, but this time in Rock Creek. With the new P2 plan in place, DEP and Friends of Rock Creek Environment (FORCE) were notified in advance. The discharge went well with no reported environmental damage occurring. The WSSC review will benefit the entire region. All of this was made possible because of vigilant watershed stewards who were monitoring Sligo Creek and responded constructively and effectively when a discharge occurred.