From: YELTON-BRAM Tiffany
Sent: Fri Jul 17 17:06:03 2015
To: 'Susan Hansen'
Cc: DECONCINI Nina; HAMMOND Joni; MANEY Ella
Subject: FW: Molalla BOD limit.
Importance: Normal
Attachments: RE: FW: Public information request - not complete 2; Hi Susan Per your request, below the entirety of an e-mail chain that begins with the request from the city of an increase in their Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) limit. It shows the complete request from Jonathan and David’s response and then becomes a conversation just between David and myself. You further requested the communication we had with the city communicating that we would not be raising the limit. When we originally filled this request, we did so by sending you hard copies of e-mails. At that time, I should have scanned the hard copies and put them in an electronic file but I did not, which was an error on my part. I am sorry to have made that mistake and made it harder to re-fill the request. Instead, I think we stored the hard copy we used to fill your original request but I haven’t been able to find the hard copy. I need the assistance of a staff person who has not been in this week. I am still working on locating the hard copy. If I find, it I will scan it and send the entire set of documents to you. In an effort to fill your request quickly, I asked David Cole to search his electronic records in case he had electronic copies of a second e-mail chain that documents his communication back to Jonathan. But he does not have anything like that. So I will continue to look for the hard copy. The final permit that we issued kept the BOD at 10mg/L average for the month and 15 mg/L average for a week. For context your email from today asking about our communication after the email below ended is attached. My apologies for the delay. Tiffany Yelton Bram WQ Source Control Manager Oregon Department of Environmental Quality 700 NE Multnomah St., Suite #600 Portland OR 97232 Desk 503 229 5219 Mobile 503 975 0046 From: COLE David Sent: Monday, March 17, 2014 7:48 AM To: YELTON-BRAM Tiffany Cc: COLE David Subject: RE: Molalla BOD limit. I agree. David Cole, R.G. Water Quality Permit Compliance Specialist DEQ Northwest Region & Western Region 2020 SW 4th Avenue Portland, OR 97201 (503) 229-5011 (503) 229-6957 Fax From: YELTON-BRAM Tiffany Sent: Friday, March 14, 2014 5:18 PM To: COLE David Subject: RE: Molalla BOD limit. Hi David Now that I’ve had the NPDES permit Writer’s course, it is clear to me that we can’t entertain increasing the limit for BOD from 10 to 15 because of antibacksliding. Also, since the issue is related to an action that they must (the removal of biosolids from the lagoons) do as part of the operation and maintenance of their plant, there no “beyond reasonable control” issue here. We will keep the limit at 15 and we’d take enforcement per guidance if they violate. Tiffany From: COLE David Sent: Monday, January 06, 2014 11:12 AM To: 'Jonathan Patrick'; YELTON-BRAM Tiffany Cc: Dan Huff; Marc Howatt; COLE David Subject: Molalla BOD limit. Hello Jon. Thanks for your question, it is a good one, and quite pertinent to consider as we try and help Molalla maintain and achieve compliance with the discharge permit limits. Having just come on board in this section as a permit compliance specialist, I am on a steep learning curve, coming up to speed with your permit, and many other duties of my position. As such, I don’t have a simple answer for you. Since the draft permit is currently in the public review and comment period, we cannot make the change to the draft at this time. However, I can offer the following: · Although the Applicant review period has closed, the public review and comment period is still open through the end of this month. This would be an ideal time for you to submit a comment on this issue, that we would then officially consider and respond to. · While an increase in the BOD limit to 15 mg/L is below the Technology Based Effluent Limit (TBEL) of 30 mg/L, allowing this increase would be counter to our anti-backsliding rule, which could prove problematic. · Making this kind of change to the permit would be a major permit modification and would require another public review and comment period, which is something we want to avoid at this time. · We may need to consider Water Quality Based Effluent Limits (WQBELs), and perform a Reasonable Potential Analysis (RPA) for BOD to see if an increase to 15 mg/L would adversely affect the environment. If the analysis shows no reasonable potential to adversely affect the environment, then the Department may have discretion to make this limit change in the next permit cycle. · Perhaps a more practical solution is to retain the 10 mg/L limit, and issue Warning Letters (WLs) for any limit violations, based on your monthly Discharge Monitoring Reports (DMRs), with the understanding that the violation(s) would likely be a Class II or Class I violation, which typically would not involve any referral to our Enforcement Section. These WLs then would be a reminder to you and act as incentives for you to clean out the solids from the lagoon as soon as is practical, so that you would then have the best ability to meet the BOD limit, as you suggest would be the case. I plan to discuss this issue with staff and management, to see what our options are. When I have more definitive information, I will share it with you so can move forward with issuing the permit. David Cole, R.G. Water Quality Permit Compliance Specialist DEQ Northwest Region & Western Region 2020 SW 4th Avenue Portland, OR 97201 (503) 229-5011 (503) 229-6957 Fax From: Jonathan Patrick [mailto:jpatrick@cityofmolalla.com] Sent: Monday, January 06, 2014 10:27 AM To: COLE David; YELTON-BRAM Tiffany Cc: Dan Huff; Marc Howatt Subject: BOD limit Hi David and Tiffany, I was wondering if the BOD limit for the City of Molalla could be raised to 15 for this permit cycle. I am concerned that the City will have a hard time meeting the limit of 10 mg/l due to the accumulation of solids in #1 lagoon. That combined with the cold weather reducing the biological activity in the lagoons makes it hard for the city to currently meet the BOD5 limit of 10 mg/l. Since the city plans to significantly reduce the solids level in #1 lagoon over the next permit cycle and a BOD limit of 15 mg/l is still a very high level of effluent quality, I think it is reasonable to ask for the higher limit. We have been struggling to meet the effluent limit of 10mg/l in past months. This month we exceeded our limit of 10mg/l. This is still well below the technology based effluent limit of 30 mg/l. Such a small increase in the BOD limit should not have any negative impact on the downstream water quality. I believe as the solids levels drop in number 1 lagoon that it will have a positive impact on BOD levels in the effluent. I believe that by the following permit cycle we will be able to return to the lower limit. Thanks, Jon Patrick