Where Can I Get More
       Information?
If you have access to the Internet, copies of
the rule and a wide variety of technical
assistance materials are available at the home
page of EPA's Chemical Emergency
Preparedness and Prevention Office
(http://www.epa.gov/swercepp/).

You also may obtain copies of these materials
asiwell as answers to your specific questions
from EPA's hotline at (800) 424-9346 during
normal business hours.

The Association of Metropolitan Sewerage
Agencies can be reached at:

  1000 Connecticut Avenue, NW
  Washington, DC 20036
  (202)833-2672
                         EPA's Risk
                         Management
                         Program
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                        How Does It Affect POTWs ?
The full text of the rule can be found in Title
40 of the Code of Federal Regulations (40
CFR part 68), which is available at most
public libraries.







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COVER

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    Does This Apply to Me?
                                 What's It All About?
                                                        Compliance Tips
Under a new EPA chemical accident
prevention rule, some publicly owned
treatment works (POTWs) will have to
implement a risk management program and
file a risk management plan (RMP) with EPA
by June 21, 1999. If you handle, produce, or
store any of the following above the threshold
quantities, you are likely to be subject to this
rule:
Chemical
Threshold Quantity
Chlorine                    2,500 pounds
Anhydrous ammonia        10,000 pounds
Anhydrous sulfur dioxide     5,000 pounds
Aqueous ammonia          20,000 pounds
(concentration 20% or greater)
Methane                   10,000 pounds
Propane                   10,000 pounds

If you have other chemicals at your facility,
you can get a complete list of substances
regulated under this rule and their thresholds
from EPA. (In general, EPA expects that
chemicals received as components of a
waslestrcam will not be subject to this rule.)
The risk management program rule (also
known as Clean Air Act section 112(r), the
RMP rule, or part 68) is designed to prevent
serious chemical accidents that could affect
public health and the environment and to
improve the response to any accidents that do
occur.

The rule requires covered facilities to develop
and to implement an integrated system to
identify hazards and manage risks. If you are
subject to this rule, you must analyze worst-
case releases, document a five-year history of
serious accidents, coordinate with local
emergency responders, and file a risk
management plan with EPA. If your worst-
case release could affect the public, you also
must analyze more realistic alternative
scenarios and develop and implement a
prevention program that includes, among
other steps, identification of hazards, written
operating procedures, training, maintenance,
and accident investigation. If your employees
respond to accidental releases, you must
implement an emergency response program.
The RMP you submit to EPA will summarize
your program and will have to be made
available to the public.
The good news is that many POTWs already
are complying with many of the prevention
requirements because these steps are part of
the way you operate safely. If you are subject
to the OSHA Process Safety Management
Standard under state law, you are likely to be
in compliance with almost all of the
prevention program requirements and'may
need to take no other steps to satisfy this part
of EPA's rule.  If you already have an
emergency response plan, you are likely to be
in compliance with that part of EPA's rule as
well.
                                       i
Besides helping you prevent accidents, the
rule can improve the efficiency of your
operation by ensuring that your workers are
trained in proper procedures and by using
preventive maintenance to reduce equipment
breakdowns.

EPA is working with the Association of
Metropolitan Sewerage Agencies (AMSA) to
develop a guidance document specifically for
POTWs that will help you understand the
requirements as they relate to your
operations. The POTW guidance will make
compliance less burdensome by providing
industry-specific information and analyses.

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