My guidance on overcoming legislative, zoning, and wastewater discharge barriers for alkaline hydrolysis in Sandwich, Massachusetts

Legal
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1

The client's task

Title

Regulatory Approval Consultant for Industrial Wastewater Discharge

Description

We are seeking an experienced consultant to assist in obtaining local town approval for the discharge of industrial wastewater resulting from alkaline hydrolysis (water cremation).
The majority of these facilities currently discharge directly into their towns' wastewater stream.
As this is a fairly unknown process, it has been difficult for me to obtain their approval.
The towns have been specifically concerned with BOD and pH.

The ideal candidate will have a strong background in environmental regulations, wastewater management, and local government processes.
Your expertise will be crucial in navigating the approval process and ensuring reasonable engineering controls be put in place.
If you have a proven track record in this area, we would love to hear from you.
Please provide details of your relevant experience.

2

My guidance

1.

3 distinct regulatory barriers must be resolved sequentially to solve your problem (hereafter — P).
I outline them in points 2-4.
In point 5, I describe and analyze strategies for resolving the Wastewater Discharge barrier (point 4), which are contingent upon the successful resolution of the barriers of points 2 and 3.

2.

Legislation to legalize Alkaline Hydrolysis (hereafter — AH) in Massachusetts is still pending: malegislature.gov/Bills/194/S1612
Investing in solutions for subsequent barriers carries extreme risk if the business itself is not authorized.

3.

The facility requires approval under the Town of Sandwich Protective Zoning By-Law (hereafter — Z): sandwichmass.org/155/Zoning-Bylaw.
AH is unlisted in Z.
Massachusetts Permissive Zoning prohibits unlisted uses (Section 2210 of Z).
The Building Inspector determines if AH «most nearly resembles» a listed use; otherwise, it is prohibited (Section 2220 of Z).
If prohibited, the only recourse is a Use Variance from the Zoning Board of Appeals.
Obtaining UV is extremely difficult under MGL Chapter 40A, Section 10: malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleVII/Chapter40A/Section10

4. Wastewater Discharge (Federal, State, and Local Levels)

4.1.

40 CFR Part 403 (hereafter — L) establishes the National Pretreatment Program: law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/40/part-403

4.2.

The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) implements this federal program via:

4.3.

The Town of Sandwich «Sewer Regulations» (hereafter — SR, sandwichmass.org/DocumentCenter/View/258/Sewer-Regulations-PDF) mandate the submission of plans stamped by a Professional Engineer if discharge exceeds 2,000 gallons per day (GPD) or if deemed necessary by the Director of Public Works (hereafter — DPW).
Typical AH system volumes (~ 2,400 gallons per cycle) exceed the threshold if a discharge cycle occurs daily.
DPW will also mandate these plans due to the extreme pH and BOD.
SR authorize the Town to deny permits for discharges causing an «adverse effect on the SMSS» (Sandwich Municipal Sewer System).

5. Strategies for resolving P

5.1. On-Site WWPS

Install a full-scale industrial wastewater pretreatment system (WWPS) at your facility in Sandwich to reduce the extreme parameters (pH and BOD) to levels permitted for discharge into the municipal sewer system (POTW).
Since AH is a batch process, this system requires 3 mandatory, sequential stages:

  1. Flow equalization, utilizing an Equalization Tank.
  2. Chemical neutralization of pH.
  3. Biological reduction of BOD.

5.2. Off-Site Hauling

Install holding tanks on-site, accumulate 100% of the liquid effluent (hydrolysate) there, and contract with a licensed industrial or hazardous waste transporter for their transportation and disposal at a specialized facility (TSDF).
Implementing this strategy mandates on-site pH neutralization to guarantee the effluent pH remains < 12.5 before transportation, thereby avoiding the Hazardous Waste (hereafter — HW) classification.
40 CFR § 261.22(a)(1) defines aqueous waste as corrosive if it has a pH ≥ 12.5: ecfr.gov/current/title-40/chapter-I/subchapter-I/part-261/subpart-C/section-261.22

5.3. Negotiated Surcharge

This method is based on the common industry practice where industrial users pay municipal POTWs a surcharge or strength charges for wastewater that exceeds domestic standards for BOD or TSS.
While surcharges are generally permissible under L, they cannot be used to authorize a discharge that causes «Interference» (hereafter — I) with the POTW.
I is legally defined (40 CFR 403.3(k)) as a discharge that both:

  1. inhibits or disrupts the POTW
  2. consequently causes the POTW to violate its own permits.

The extreme characteristics of your wastewater (pH 11-12 and BOD ~70,000 mg/L) are virtually certain to cause I.
Specifically, the Specific Prohibitions (40 CFR 403.5(b)(4)) forbid «Any pollutant, including oxygen demanding pollutants (BOD, etc.) released in a Discharge at a flow rate and/or pollutant concentration which will cause Interference with the POTW».
The POTW has no legal authority to accept payment in exchange for allowing a violation of these federal prohibitions.

5.4. The PR solution

This is your current erroneous strategy.
This strategy has already failed and is guaranteed to continue to fail.
It neither solves nor addresses any of the 3 real barriers (points 2-4).
It is a waste of time and resources based on false premises.