United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
MAY/JUNE 1978
208
Bulletin
EPA, USDA Team to
Solve Water Quality
Problems
A Joint Land Application
System for Municipal &
Industrial Wastewater
The United States Department
of Agriculture and the Envi-
ronmental Protection Agency
have joined forces to accelerate
efforts that will help maintain
productive soil and improve the
quality of the Nation's waters.
The joint effort, called the
Model Implementation Program
(MIP), has been launched under
an agreement of cooperation
signed by Agriculture Secretary
Bob Bergland and EPA Adminis-
trator Douglas M. Costle.
Under terms of the agreement,
EPA and USDA will pool their
resources and expertise to take
concerted action against water
quality problems in several small,
designated areas throughout the
Nation.
Conservation and pollution
control measures will be in-
stalled, among them the grassing
of road or stream banks and
drainage ways, and the building
of terraces, animal waste
systems, and erosion control
structures. These are designed to
keep sediment, pesticides, and
fertilizers from entering the
waterways.
Statewide water quality man-
agement plans are well underway
in all of the States and in 176 ur-
ban areas. This massive planning
effort was launched by EPA as
authorized by Congress under
Section 208 of the Federal Water
Pollution Control Act of 1972.
The Model Implementation
Projects, though they include
erosion and sediment control,
will also integrate other USDA
and EPA programs that have an
influence on water quality
management.
The Department of Agriculture
has various research, educa-
tional, technical and financial
assistance programs and per-
sonnel who work directly with
farmers, ranchers, and others
whose activities in rural areas af-
fect water quality. USDA and
EPA will coordinate the MIP ef-
fort with local and State groups,
such as Soil and Water Conser-
vation Districts, State Forestry
Agencies, State Soil Conserva-
tion Commissions, and Water
Quality Agencies.
Funds for the MIP will come
from various EPA and USDA on-
going programs, including EPA's
Clean Lakes and Research and
Development Programs, USDA's
Agricultural Conservation Pro-
gram, Great Plains Conservation
Program, and Resource Conser-
vation and Development Pro-
gram.
The cooperative program will
be conducted under direction of
the USDA "208" Work Group,
and the Nonpoint Sources
Branch of EPA's Office of Water
and Hazardous Materials.
Seven areas have received na-
tional designation where MIP
plans will be installed, extending
over a 2 to 3 year period. These
areas will serve as models to
demonstrate effectiveness of
similar concerted efforts to im-
prove water quality on a larger
scale throughout the Nation.
The seven MIP's were selected
from 50 applications from 42
State-USDA coordinating com-
mittees in cooperation with many
continued on page 6
A joint land application system
for municipal and industrial
wastewater effluent, which was
developed with water quality
management assistance, will
eliminate significant discharges
to the Portneuf River and reuse
valuable resources.
The Idaho Department of
Health and Welfare has ranked
the Portneuf River, which runs
through Pocatello, thirteenth out
of 125 rivers needing clean-up in
the State. Several point source
discharges enter the river in a
half-mile stretch northwest of
the city. Two of the most signifi-
cant are from the Pocatello
sewage treatment plant and J.
R. Simplot, a fertilizer manufac-
turing plant.
The City of Pocatello and the
Southeast Idaho Council of
Governments (SICOG) have been
anticipating for several years that
the treatment plant and local in-
dustries would be required to
meet more stringent discharge
standards to improve water
quality in the Portneuf. The
municipal treatment plant pro-
vides secondary treatment. Both
the treatment plant and Simplot
now violate some discharge
limits in their NPDES permits:
Simplot for phosphorus, am-
monia, nitrates, Kjeldahl
nitrogen, and fluoride; the
municipal plant for BOD and
phosphorus.
When the water quality
management program got under
way, SICOG and Pocatello in-
itiated a "Joint Wastewater
Treatment Feasibility Study,"
which was conducted by the Ci-
ty Department of Public Works
with Simplot's participation and
funded by the water quality
management program. The study
evaluated treatment systems
which could achieve 90 percent
removal of phosphorus and
nitrogen. The two feasible alter-
natives for achieving this were
modification of the Pocatello
plant to provide tertiary treat-
ment and land application. The
preferred tertiary treatment
system, on the basis of costs
and system reliability, involved
capital costs of $9 million.
Land application of waste-
water effluent held several in-
herent advantages. The 208 plan-
ning area is primarily agricultural
and heavily dependent on irriga-
tion. The volume of treated
wastewater and its nutrient con-
tent offered significant potential
for use in agricultural irrigation...
A demonstration project funded
by Simplot indicated that its
wastewater effluent is at least as
effective as a combination of ir-
rigation water and commercial
fertilizer in producing high yield
in pasture grasses.
The preliminary cost estimate
for developing the preferred land
application site at East Bench is
$6 million. This estimate is for a
full capacity, year-round system
including wastewater transmis-
sion pipes, sprinkler irrigation
system, on-site storage lagoons,
resource recovery impound-
ments, and site preparation.
About half of the 7,000 acres
at East Bench currently have no
irrigation source. Farmers at the
continued on page 2
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Joint Land Application
continued from page 1
site who buy irrigation water pay
about $13 per acre per year and
are faced with rising water costs
and a water table that is drop-
ping significantly. Before the
final site decision was made,
SICOG held several meetings
with farmers around East Bench,
and their response indicates that
demand for the wastewater for
irrigation will be high. Nutrients
in the effluent — primarily
nitrogen — represent a present
value of approximately $300,000
worth of fertilizer annually for
farmers at the site.
Implementation
East Bench is large enough for
phased development of the land
application system. The first
phase, at a cost of $3 million,
will include year-round collection
of all effluent from Simplot and
collection of effluent from the
municipal treatment plant in all
but the winter months. During
the winter, the municipal plant
will discharge into the river.
There will only be summer irriga-
tion during this phase. Phase
two will provide for storage of all
municipal and industrial effluent
year-round and growing season
irrigation. The final result, once
the whole system is in place,
should be zero discharge from
the municipal treatment plant
and the fertilizer plant.
Pocatello and J. R. Simplot
have jointly executed the con-
tract for system construction,
and the design of the system is
complete. Simplot will be
responsible for construction of
the access pipe from its plant to
the municipal plant and for con-
struction of the resource
recovery impoundment at the
East Bench application site. The
city will be responsible for
transmission pipes from the
municipal treatment plant to East
Bench and for operation and
maintenance of the system. The
city will collect revenues from
the sale of effluent for irrigation.
The entire cost of the system will
be financed locally, with no
Federal grant assistance, and
construction is anticipated to be
completed within two years.
Monitoring
Anticipated impacts of the
land application system, which
will mainly affect groundwater,
are predicted to be minimal since
the water table depth averages
100 feet and there are only a few
potable wells around East
Bench. However, the Idaho
Department of Environmental
and Community Services will
monitor wells around the
resource recovery impoundment,
with additional research in-
vestigations carried out by the
Idaho State University and a
local U.S. Department of
Agriculture Research Station.
Significance
The land application system
developed through the WQM
program for the Pocatello
municipal treatment plant and
the J. R. Simplot fertilizer plant
is an innovative approach to
solving wastewater treatment
problems. When the system is
complete, all discharges from
both plants will be eliminated
from the river, resulting in water
quality improvement in the Port-
neuf.
The key to eliminating these
discharges is a relatively low cost
resource recovery project that of-
fers local farmers a highly
desirable product and a one-step
process for irrigation and fer-
tilizer application. The effluent ir-
rigation water not only replaces
two expensive resources which
local farmers now buy separate-
ly; the completed sprinkler
system will expand irrigated
acreage and result in a signifi-
cant increase in production on
those acres.
This accomplishment is also
significant because SICOG
recognized that the WQM pro-
gram could provide the impetus,
through funding and a central
coordinative role, to deal with a
long-standing problem. The proj-
ect has led to development by
Pocatello and J. R. Simplot of
an independent, municipal-
industrial wastewater man-
agement process. This manage-
ment process includes well-
defined responsibilities for con-
struction and continuing opera-
tion of the system, an adequate
funding program to complete the
project, and a plan to generate
revenue from the project. D
Information Officers
Come to Grips with
Gripes
National Environmental In-
formation Officers Confer-
ence met in Dallas, Texas, late
last year and articulated a num-
ber of continuing concerns the
officers had regarding the 208
water quality management pro-
gram.
Workshops were held during
which the officers discussed
their problems with local elected
officials, suggesting ways to
overcome frequent distrust
elected officials have with plan-
ning organizations. The officers
suggested that communication is
the key to political support and
that the 208 program should be
given to elected officials in
manageable doses.
Providing effective public
meetings was also discussed.
Ways to get the people out,
ways to make the meetings in-
teresting and effective, ways to
get people to work after the
meeting and ways to get people
to come back were considered.
One resourceful member of the
panel even considered mailing
dirty water along with cus-
tomer's water bills to underscore
the importance of attending the
public meeting!
Problems with public involve-
ment and with elected officials
dominated the discussions at the
Dallas conference, but other
problems too numerous to
discuss were outlined:
(1) EPA forms and reporting
documents are a hassle;
(2) Sometimes the public con-
siders water quality downgrading
to be a viable alternative to
meeting water quality goals;
(3) Time and financial limitations
burden the planning progress;
(4) It is questionable whether
educational material may be
funded;
(5) Consistency is lacking in
public participation requirements
throughout Federal water pro-
grams;
(6) State plan certification poses
a problem;
(7) EPA publications are often
unavailable, and the distribution
process is inadequate;
(8) Money alone is no measure
of an agency's commitment to
public involvement;
(9) EPA's decisions about public
participation programs lack
policy coordination.
In response to these important
policy considerations, an en-
lightening follow-up report was
constructed by Susan Vogt, 208
Public Participation Coordinator;
Ginger Patterson, Chief, Program
Communications Section; and
Region IX WQM Coordinator.
Alan Abramson. To further the
spirit of the Dallas Conference, a
public participation questionnaire
was distributed to participants
soliciting feedback about the
resolutions of the Conference. D
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Land Use
Solutions
to
Septic
System
Problems
Testing different soil types for
the level of purification provided
by each.
Sample of septic tank waste-
water purified by passage
through absorbent soil. Such
wastewater is potentially potable.
The Berkshire County Regional
Planning Commission (Mas-
sachusetts) and the Strafford
Rockingham Regional Council
(New Hampshire) are assisting
local towns in developing and
enforcing land use regulations to
protect local waters and to en-
sure orderly development.
In rural New England, septic
systems remain the most fre-
quently used manner of waste
treatment. Many of these
systems are old and malfunction-
ing. Frequently, the owner does
not adequately maintain the
system. Since many of the septic
systems are built in shallow,
rocky soil, malfunctioning
systems create an acute pollution
problem for local homeowners as
well as an asethetic nuisance.
Malfunctioning septic systems
contaminate aquifers from which
drinking water is taken.
Expansion of existing facilities
or new construction is not
always the best solution,
especially since additional
facilities are costly to build,
operate and maintain. Conse-
quently, land use regulations are
an appealing alternative for many
small New England towns.
Marshalling land use regula-
tions, planners can preclude sep-
tic system use in those areas in
which septic system pollution
Photographs courtesy of the Strafford Rock-
ingham Regional Council.
would create especially sensitive
hazards.
New Hampshire
The Strafford Rockingham
Regional Council took samples
of the four watersheds of the
region, finding dangerous levels
of coliform bacteria.
The Council then went to the
towns individually and asked
them to adopt the regulations for
land use, including soil-type, lot
size and erosion control regula-
tions. Many of the small towns
in the Region readily accepted
the control measures as a viable
alternative to centralized sewer
systems.
The program provided essen-
tial technical background about
the water quality of the Region,
avoided the necessity of building
costly central sewer systems for
small towns, and guaranteed a
better quality of life for people in
the Region.
Said Jon Gilmore, Planning
Director for SRRC, "Land use is
the primary cause of the
Region's water quality problems;
it's also the key to solving those
problems in the future."
Seasonal lakeshore home con-
verted to year-round use. Septic
systems attached to such resi-
dences are inadequate for the
additional use made of them.
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"Honey Wagon" pumping a pit
or lagoon disposal system. Such
systems are cheap and widely
used, but offer the most
dangerous source of contamina-
tion.
"Honey Wagon" used to pump a
septic tank. Here the septic tank
had not been pumped in nine
years (when recommendations
call for pumping every three
years). This tank may have been
the source of aquifer contamina-
tion.
Massachusetts
As a part of the water quality
management program, the Berk-
shire County Regional Planning
Commission (BCRPC) developed
drinking water and recharge
areas to provide current and
potential municipal water sup-
plies through the year 2000. The
208 staff developed land use
guidelines for protection of major
recharge areas and a draft zon-
ing by-law to implement the
guidelines.
At the request of the city of
Stockbridge, BCRPC revised the
existing zoning ordinance and in-
corporated groundwater protec-
tion guidelines prepared through
the 208 program. The revised or-
dinance was approved at a town
meeting.
Significance
These two New England 208
Agencies used the WQM pro-
gram to help towns develop and
implement local solutions to ex-
isting and potential health
hazards and water quality prob-
lems resulting from malfunction-
ing septic systems.
Where the capability to sup-
port new municipal treatment
facilities is limited, these land use
controls allow New England
towns to direct development so
that they will not be faced with
serious water quality problems
over the next few years without
the need for expensive and un-
wanted treatment facilities. D
May
We Serve
You Better?
The Bulletin's purpose is to
publicize program activities and
successes, and to communicate
EPA policies. We, the editors,
would appreciate getting feed-
back as to whether or not the
Bulletin is providing a useful ser-
vice. Thus, we would appreciate
your taking a minute to help us
with our study.
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ization read the Bulletin?
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useful purpose?
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Which articles in the Bulletin do
you find most useful:
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National Calendar
Legislative Update
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What other water quality related
news periodicals do you receive?
Local newsletters
State agency newsletters
NARC's Regional Perspective
NARC'S Washington Report
NACo's County News
NACD's Tuesday Newsletter
ICMA's Waterline
Does the Bulletin contain infor-
mation you would not get else-
where?
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Other comments:
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Clean Water Camp Out
Who could not be overcome
by the scenic beauty of
Florida's Peace River?
Add a dash of Southern bar-
becued ribs, the music of a local
bluegrass group, and a few
beers and you have an at-
mosphere in which communica-
tion among environmentalists
and planners is facilitated.
The Central Florida Regional
Planning Council of Bartow,
Florida, threw a weekend session
Representatives of environmental
action groups and government
agencies field questions about
water quality.
for a group of 250 environmental
and governmental represen-
tatives last October to encourage
environmentalists to become in-
volved in developing the 208 pro-
gram while it is still in the plan-
ning stage.
Taking business before pleas-
ure, Saturday was filled with
speeches by local and national
representatives of EPA, work-
shops and a panel discussion.
Later that evening, the Hardee
Participants in CFRPC's Clean
Water Camp out at outdoor
workshop. Later came the fun!
County Sheriff's Department
hosted a barbecue, featuring the
Okeechobee String Band.
Sunday morning, the campers
awoke to a hayride truck trip to
the Peace River for a demonstra-
tion of water sampling tech-
niques. The group found the
river highly polluted, which
stimulated a discussion of the
water quality issues.
A Canoe trip down the Peace
River culminated the enjoyable.
yet productive, weekend.
The clean water camp out was
one of the largest gatherings of
environmentalists in recent
times, and proved to be a source
of enthusiasm and involvement
for the 208 program.
Putting aside the business, it
was a fun-filled time during
which environmentalists and
planners could get to know one
another, to the benefit of both
groups. D
Editor, 208 Bulletin WH-554
Environmental Protection Agency
401 M St., SW
Washington, DC 20009
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New Publications
Available
The Water Quality Management
Information Center has the
following new publications
available:
• Water Quality Management
Accomplishments — Compen-
dium I
• Assessment of Rural Nonpoint
Source Pollution, A Model
Based on the Universal Soil Loss
Equation
• Planning Methodologies for
Analysis of Land Use/Water
Quality Relationships: Case
Study Application
• Water Quality Management
Guidance for Mine-Related Pollu-
tion Sources (New, Current and
Abandoned)
• Setting the Course for Clean
Water, A citizen's guide to the
Section 208 Water Quality
Management Program (National
Wildlife Federation)
• The Public Benefits of Cleaned
Water: Emerging Greenway Op-
portunities
• The Bellevue Experience: A
Case Study
• Silvicultural Chemicals and the
Protection of Water Quality
(Region X)
• Water Quality Management
Directory (September 1977)
• Water, A Resource You Can
Help Restore (booklet/poster)
• Nonpoint Source Control
Guidance, Agricultural Activities
For copies of any of these docu-
ments, call the WQM Informa-
tion Center, 202-755-6993.
Water Quality Problems
continued from page 7
local and State conservation and
water quality pollution control
agencies. The MIP's selected
are:
Indiana — Indiana Heartland
area where heavy sediment loads
are affecting water quality;
Nebraska — Maple Creek
watershed, essentially a cropland
area, with an exceptionally nigh
annual soil loss. Sediment, and
accompanying nitrogen, phos-
phorus, and pesticides are
polluting many of the 230 miles
of streams in the project areas;
New York — Delaware River
West Branch watershed where
agricultural and forest harvest
activities including many dairy
and feedlot operations have
caused serious water quality
problems;
Oklahoma — Little Washita River
with typical south central
Oklahoma water pollution prob-
lems caused by sediment from
gullying cropland and county
roadsides, as well as oil and gas
developments;
South Carolina — Broadway
Lake watershed east of Ander-
son City, where serious degrada-
tion of water quality stems from
sedimentation, agricultural
chemicals, and animal waste;
South Dakota — Lake Herman,
near Madison in Lake County, a
natural recreational lake with
water pollution problems that in-
clude soil erosion and sedimenta-
tion;
Washington — Sulphur Creek,
Yakima County, whose chief
pollution problem is due to the
sedimentation, salts and nu-
trients from irrigation return
flow.D
National Calendar
Meeting Date
American Society of Civil April 24-28
Engineers Spring Meeting
Cornell Wastewater Con- April 26
ference (Nonpoint source
BMP's)
National Association of May 6-10
Regional Councils Annual
Meeting
Urban Land Institute May 29-30
Spring Meeting
American Water Works June 25-29
Association Conference
Location
Pittsburgh, PA
Rochester, NY
Denver, CO
New Orleans, LA
Atlantic City, NJ
Hi
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