Environmental Matters in the Commonwealth of Kentucky

ORSANCO is initiating a review of its Pollution Control Standards for Wastewater Discharges to the Ohio River. The Commission Standards include designated uses of the Ohio River, numerical water quality criteria established to protect the uses, and effluent limits necessary to meet those criteria. It is the policy of the Commission to conduct a formal review of its Standards every three years; the last such review was completed in October 2006.

Comments on any portion of the Standards will be accepted until May 16, 2008. All comments received by that date will be considered by the Commission’s Pollution Control Standards Committee; their consideration may result in proposed revisions to the Standards. Any proposed revisions will be presented at a public hearing and will be subject to an additional public comment period before they are acted upon by the Commission.  Comments on the Standards should be submitted to the following address: ORSANCO, 5735 Kellogg Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio  45228, c/o: Attention: PCS Comments.  Comments may also be submitted by email to ptennant@orsanco,org or by fax to 513/231-7761. Comments should arrive by the close of business on Friday, May 16, 2008.

In order to facilitate review of the current Standards, five public workshops will be held.  Each workshop will include brief descriptions of the authority and purpose of the Commission Standards, their relationship to state and federal standards, the content of the current Standards, and issues that are expected to be addressed in the current review. The major portion of each workshop will be devoted to questions and discussions on the Standards and related issues. The workshops will not be recorded and no formal statements will be taken; they are being held to facilitate discussion of Standards- related issues and to assist persons who may be considering the submittal of comments.  The workshop for Northern Kentucky will be held on Wednesday, April 16, 2008, at the Holiday Inn Airport, from 4-7 pm (local prevailing time),1717 Airport Exchange Blvd., Erlanger, KY.

The following are issues that are expected to be raised in the review of the ORSANCO Pollution Control Standards. These issues were identified based on their being raised in the previous review, or through development work that has been completed since the last review. It must be emphasized that comments will be accepted on all portions of the current Standards.

Temperature

ORSANCO convened a work group including representatives of state and federal environmental and fisheries agencies, universities, and the power industry to review its current temperature criteria as well as studies of thermal impacts that have been completed since those criteria were adopted. The work group recommended a methodology for deriving new temperature criteria. The methodology and resulting criteria are under review by state agency staff.

Translators for Metals

ORSANCO has conducted monitoring for dissolved and total recoverable metals at 17 Ohio River sites for over ten years. The data have been used to develop translators for relating dissolved and total recoverable metals concentrations. The translators would allow permit limits, which must be based on total recoverable concentrations, to be developed to meet in stream criteria, which limit the dissolved portion.

Selenium

The criteria for selenium in the Commission’s Standards are considered outdated. US EPA is working on new criteria, which are expected to be adopted by the end of 2008. The Commission may consider adoption of the new criteria if they are available in time to be included in proposed revisions to the Standards. If EPA encounters delays in finalizing its criteria, the Commission may need to consider an alternative course of action.

 Pathogens

The Commission Standards currently include water quality criteria and effluent limits for fecal coliform and e. coli bacteria. There is considerable work being done to identify better bacterial indicators. The current criteria development plan for US EPA calls for new criteria to protect recreational use in 2012. There is also a need for better pathogen criteria to protect drinking water use.

 Applicability of New US EPA Human Health Criteria

US EPA has adopted several new human health criteria in recent years. Derivation of those criteria involves certain assumptions about the rate of fish consumption and the exposure to a given pollutant from sources other than drinking water and eating fish. The Commission is seeking information as to whether or not the assumptions used in the derivation of the national criteria are valid for the Ohio River.

 Wet Weather Standards

In 2006, the Commission proposed revisions to Section IV- Water Quality Criteria and Section V – Waste Water Discharge Requirements to provide for wet weather conditions. Comments on the proposed revisions were overwhelmingly negative. The proposed revisions to Section IV were not adopted but the proposed revisions to Section V were adopted. The Commission has undertaken a study of recreational use of the Ohio River to determine if the assumptions used in the proposed revisions to Section IV were valid. This study is expected to be completed by the end of 2008.