SUMMARY REPORT :
THE EXTENT OF
SHORTAGES FOR CHLORINE
AND OTHER WATER
SANITATION CHEMICALS
April, 1974
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SUMMARY REPORT: THE EXTENT OF
SHORTAGES FOR CHLORINE AND OTHER
WATER SANITATION CHEMICALS
April, 1974
Water Supply Division
Office of Air and Water Programs
Environmental Protection Agency
Washington, D. C. 20460
library
Us EPA Region 4
AFC/9th FL Tower
61 Forsyth St. S.W.
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Preface
Since June 1973 there have been a series of outage/shortage incidents
for chlorine at water supply and wastewater utilities. A rash of other
water treatment chemical shortages have also been reported.
Relevant to this, the Environmental Protection Agency was requested by
MrEric Johnson, Executive Director, American Water Works Association
and*'"Senator Warren G. Magnuson, Chairman of the Committee on Commerce
United States Senate, to conduct a survey through its regional, offices
to determine the full extent of the problem.
This report was prepared in response to these requests. It summarizes
all of the reported outage/shortage incidents since June 1973 as well as
the reports received in the January 1974 survey of the regional offices.
Authorship and Acknowledgements
This report was compiled by Frank A. Bell, Jr. with the assistance of
Harold M. Scott, Lehn J. Potter, and James E. Warren, all members of
the Environmental Protection Agency Headquarters staff. Acknowledgement
is given to the various water supply and wastewater engineers and
scientists in the regional offices who have helped by furnishing the
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Summary Report: The Extent of
Shortages for Chlorine and Other
Water Sanitation Chemicals
I. Summary
A. Chlorine
1. Seventy-five outage/shortage incidents were reported for
wastewater and water supply utilities from 20 States from
June 1973 - January 1974. Seventy-seven percent of the
incidents were reported from the Eastern United States
and none from the far-West, indicating that the shortage
had regional characteristics.
2. Outages of bulk product supply were reported for six
repackaging companies at branch plants in over 30 cities.
3. "Contract" and "predicted supply problems" for 1974 were
cited for all but two regions and one of these indicated
some contract problems.
4. Other factors reported as impacting on the chlorine supply
situation were a "shortage of chlorine cylinders" by four
regions and "transportation" delays by one region. These
are viewed as serious aggravations to the main problem of
a shortage of chlorine for water sanitation purposes.
5. Based on the supply problems experienced from June 1973 -
January 1974, and on the "contract" and "predicted supply
problems" forecast by the preponderance of the regions
for 1974, the chlorine shortage must be considered as a
serious threat to the Nation's public health. Market
conditions, such as a decrease in industrial demand for
chlorine could change this situation, but such conditions
are not the subject of this paper.
B. Soda Ash, Lime and Caustic Soda
1. Currently lime and caustic soda must be considered tight
but not critically short; no incidents were reported for
lime and only three shortage incidents for caustic soda.
2. Thirty-six incidents were reported for soda ash, mostly
in the midwest States and there appear to be many more
shortage problems than were reported; soda ash must be
considered as critically short for water treatment. This
situation is mitigated by two facts; many utilities have
been able to substitute lime and/or caustic soda for soda
ash and the health implications for an outage of soda ash
are less than for chlorine. However, there still are
health implications and a continuing shortage situation
for soda ash merits serious governmental concern.
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C. Other Water Sanitation Chemicals
1. Some degree of outage, shortage or problems with contracts
or supply for 1974 were reported for fluoridation chemicals,
activated carbon, alum, ferric chloride, ferrous sulfate
and methanol.
2. The problems with regard to fluoridation chemicals appear
to be caused by local and regional maladjustments, rather
than being national in scope. The problems with regard
to activated carbon lie mainly in difficulties in obtain-
ing contracts and in predicted short supply for 1974;
however, a more expensive industrial-grade activated
carbon is available for substitution to help solve
critical water quality problems. The reported incidence
of problems with the other chemicals was too small to be
considered significant.
II. Chlorine
Chlorine is the most important water treatment chemical. It is used
to disinfect drinking water to prevent the occurrence of epidemic
disease outbreaks such as hepatitis, typhoid fever, gastroenteritis,
and others. It is used to disinfect wastewater to reduce fecal
coliform levels to legally mandated levels; this is particularly
important where wastewater effluents may impact on recreational
waters or shellfish growing waters or on public water supply intakes.
A. Outages/Shortages (June 1973 - January 1974)
1. Water and Wastewater Utilities - A summary of Table 1 reveals
utility outages/shortages (incidents) for chlorine from
June 1973 - January 1974 as follows:
Ut i1i ty
Water Supply
Wastewater
Total
Outages
1
22
23
Shortages
25
27
5?
Total
26 (35%)
49 (65%)
75 (100%)
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There is a general recognition that it is more important to
disinfect drinking water than wastewater; this is reflected
in the greater number of incidents for wastewater than for
water supply. In several shortage situations chlorine has
been diverted from wastewater uses to drinking water
disinfection.
Most of the reported incidents occurred in the Summer and
Fall of 1973 when water sanitation demands for chlorine were
at a high level. It was expected that incidents would
disappear in the Winter and that repackaging companies and
utilities would be able to build up their chlorine reserves
since water sanitation demands would be low at this time.
However this did not occur; during the Winter period,
repackagers reported a worrisome continuation of bulk-supply
problems and about one-third of the utility incidents were
reported for the Winter period.
In considering the reported incidents, it must be remembered
that the general problems of supply were experienced by many
cities in the affected States in addition to the reported
incidents. Incidents were reported for utilities in 20 States;
it is likely that the number of utilities experiencing supply
problems was many times the number of reported incidents.
2. Repackaging Companies - No special effort has been made to
survey supply problems among repackaging companies but
information has come to our attention through a variety
of sources which indicate outages (interpreted as no tank
car at the repackaging plant for unloading) for six
companies at branch plants in over 30 cities. One company
reported that 16 of its branch plants had run out of
chlorine upon two or more occasions during the last year.
An outage of chlorine at a repackaging plant is a good
indicator for problems to come. If the repackager has
difficulty in obtaining chlorine, this difficulty will
subsequently be reflected by short supplies and outages
for water and wastewater utilities. As mentioned before,
it has also been worrisome to discover that repacker supply
problems have continued into the Winter months when
sanitation demands are low.
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B. Regional Aspects and Signs of Problems for 1974
Examination of Table 2 reveals that 77% of the outage/shortage
incidents came from the East, 20% from the Central States, and
only 3% from the West. Significantly no supply problems were
reported for the far-West. The greatest density of incidents
occurred in Region II (New York and New Jersey). From this it
is clear that the chlorine shortage has definite regional
characteristics as well as being a general National problem.
Examination of the future, in this paper, depends entirely on
the reports and impressions of the State and utility representa-
tives. A few have had written notices from their suppliers but
most have only had verbal notices or rumors, or have had the
experience of receiving inadequate or no bids on their chlorine
supply for 1974. A summary of the information in the last
column of Table 2 reveals the following:
1.. "Contract" problems reported by nine EPA regions: This is
the most pervasive sign of a National problem; its nature
varies from no bids received to the signing of qualified
contracts. Many utilities are currently operating on little
more than an agreement that the repackager will furnish
chlorine, if he has it, at a price which may vary with the
current market conditions.
2. "Predicted supply problems" reported by eight regions: This
sign represents a translation of the repackaging companies'
predicament to the utilities. During the shortage so far,
repackaging companies report that they have been put on
reduced allocations by some producers and have received
notices of continued and sometimes even lower allocations
for 1974; one repackager has even had his entire contract
dropped for 1974 by a producer. This has generated a number
of written and verbal warnings of supply problems for 1974.
3. "Shortage of chlorine cylinders" reported by four regions:
This represents an aggravation to the general situation;
the supply of cylinders, though tight, would be adequate if
chlorine weren't so short. Many repackagers are putting
substantial deposits on cylinders to help regulate their
turn-around and for economic reasons.
4. "Transportation delays" reported by one region: Unofficially
these delays have also been reported at other times by a
number of regions. Again, while the chlorine supply is tight,
mishaps and mis-routings on the railroad can have painful
results.
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5. Based on the supply problems experienced from June 1973 -
January 1974, and on the "contract" and "predicted supply
problems" forecast by the preponderance of the regions for
1974, the chlorine shortage must be considered as a serious
threat to the Nation's public health. Market condition, such
as a decrease in industrial demand for chlorine could change
this situation but such conditions are not the subject of
this paper.
III. Soda Ash (^COg), Lime (CaO) and Caustic Soda (NaOH)
These chemicals are grouped together since they have similar properties
in water treatment: pH adjustment for corrosion control and as an
assist in coagulation; and softening. In certain instances water
utilities have switched from an unavailable chemical to another but
this cannot always be done easily because of differences in feeding
equipment; also the two chemicals may not do exactly the same job
and one may be more hazardous to handle than another.
Table 4 lists the outage/shortage incidents for soda ash, lime and
caustic soda; the only reported incidents were for water supply, none
for wastewater treatment. The situation for lime is currently much
improved over the Summer of 1973 when there was a strike of a major
lime producer; in fact the lime supply must now be considered tight
but not short.
Only three shortage incidents were reported from two regions for
caustic soda. However short supply conditions were mentioned by
two additional regions. Caustic soda is a twin product of the
electrolytic process which is used to make chlorine; as the pro-
ductive capacity for chlorine goes up, the availability of caustic
soda will also increase.
Soda ash is in the shortest supply of these three chemicals.
Thirty-six incidents have been reported from ten States located
in six regions. Table 4 gives the regional breakdown for
soda ash. The East, Central and West areas all had a similar
percent of incidents for soda ash but a closer examination of
the States involved reveals the highest density of problems to
be in the midwest with no problems at all reported in Region VI
or in the far-west Regions of IX and X.
For soda ash the reported incidents represent only the tip of
the iceberg because many utilities have switched to lime or
caustic soda or have had to content themselves to deliver a lower
quality water (usually in terms of hardness) to their customers.
Since the health implications of an outage for soda ash are less
than for chlorine, there has been less attention paid to this
problem than for chlorine.
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However there may be health ramifications for a soda ash outage.
Lack of proper pH control could be detrimental to good coagulation
and clarification, and could also cause a greater pickup of trace
metals, including lead from the distribution systems, thus leading
to concentrations of trace metals in drinking water which are higher
than the health limits set forth in the Federal Drinking Water
Standards. Lack of softening could give an aesthetically displeasing
water which might cause some consumers to seek an alternate, possibly
less-safe source of water. Consequently a continuing shortage
situation for soda ash merits serious governmental concern.
On the basis of utility and State reports the future for soda ash
does not look good. Six out of ten regions reported "contract"
and "predicted supply problems" for 1974.
IV. Other Water Sanitation Chemicals
A. Less problems were reported with respect to the other water
sanitation chemicals; of these only two categories were of
significant extent as follows:
1. Fluoridation Chemicals - These chemicals are used to
impart an optimum concentration of fluoride to drinking
water as a means of preventing dental decay. A short-
term suspension of fluoridation (less than a couple of
weeks) may have little impact on dental protective effects
but long term outages could significantly impair dental
protection.
Spot outage/shortage incidents and problems have been
reported around the nation as follows:
- Sodium Fluoride (NaF): Outages at Durham, New Hampshire
and Hanover, New Hampshire.
- Sodium Si 1icofluoride (Na2SiFg): Outages at two plants at
Miami-Dade County, Florida.
- Fluosilicic Acid (H2SiFg): Shortage {down to 1-10 days
supply) at New Brunswick, New Jersey and reported supply-
difficulties in Region VII.
It is believed that these supply problems reflect local and
regional maladjustments rather than a National shortage
situation. No indication was made by any of the regions
of "contract" or "predicted supply problems" for 1974.
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2. Activated Carbon (C)' - Activated carbon is used to remove
organic substances from drinking water principally for taste
and odor control; the shortage problems pertain to the
powdered form for water treatment while the granular form
is not really short. No outages or shortages were reported but
three regions reported "contract" and "predicted supply
problems" for 1974.
The principal difficulty revolves around a major producer
which has temporarily suspended operations during a
significant change in processes. According to this producer,
the turnaround time may take six months; consequently it
has quit bidding on new business and will ship product from
its stockpile only upon a clearcut need. It has urged its
customers to conserve activated carbon, using it only to
solve specific problems rather than routinely.
If activated carbon for water treatment should become un-
available for solving critical problems, utilities still have
the option of ordering a more expensive industrial grade of
activated carbon which is reported to be in adequate supply.
3. Other Chemicals - Single reports of supply problems have
been made for a variety of other chemicals as follows:
a. Alum (A1^)*141^0) water treatment, shortage (down to
1-10 days supply): Graniteville County, South Carolina.
b. Ferric Chloride (FeCl^) wastewater solids treatment:
Difficulty in purchasing in Iowa.
c. Ferrous Sulfate (FeSO^yf^O) water treatment, supply
problems: Missouri.
d. Methanol (CH3OH) wastewater treatment, shortage (down
to 1-10 days supply): Happauge County Plant, New York.
While these reports reflect an element of concern, they do
not seem to indicate any serious supply problems.
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TABLE 1
SUMMARY LIST OF UTILITIES REPORTED AS
EXPERIENCING OUTAGES/SHORTAGES OF CHLORINE
(June 1973 - January 1974)
I. Outages
A. Public Drinking Water Supplies
1. Lander, Wyoming
B. Wastewater Treatment Plants
1. Binghamton-Johnson City, New York
2. Borough of Florence, New Jersey
3. Corinna, Maine
4. Dallas, Texas
5. Des Moines, Iowa
6. Glenn Falls, New York
7. Greenville, Tennessee
8. Houston, Texas (Stopped using Hypochlorite
at one plant for various periods totalling
421 hours).
9. Jacksonville, Illinois
10. Jefferson Parish, Louisiana
11. Kalamazoo, Michigan
12. Kings Park, New York
13. Mattabassett Sanitary District, Connecticut
14. Monticello, Illinois
15. Nashville, Tennessee
16. New York City, New York (Stopped chlorinating at four
plants to conserve the hypochlorite for use on its
other effluents).
17. Orono, Maine
18. Plattsburgh, New York
19. Rangely, Maine
20. Scotia, New York
21. Smithtown, New York
22. St.Joseph's Resort, Illinois
II. Shortages (down to 1-10 days supply)
A. Public Drinking Water Supplies
1. Boynton Beach, Florida
2. Brunswick, Georgia
3. Chicago, Illinois
4. Clearwater, South Carolina
5. Denver, Colorado
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TABLE 1 (continued)
7. Indianapolis, Indiana
8. Isle of Palms, South Carolina
9. Jan-Phyl Subdivision (Polk County), Florida
10. Lancaster, Pennsylvania
11. Middlesex, New Jersey
12. Newark, New Jersey
13. New York City, New York
14. North Jersey District, New Jersey
15. Palm Beach County, Florida (1st System)
16. Palm Beach County, Florida (2nd System)
17. Palm Springs, Florida
18. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
19. Pinellas County, Florida
20. Savannah, Georgia
21. St. Augustine, Florida
22. Summerville, South Carolina
23. Wellsboro, Pennsylvania
24. Wilmington, Delaware
25. Wilmington, Suburban District, Delaware
B. Wastewater Treatment Plants
1. Algonquin, Illinois
2. Avon, New York
3. Babylon, New York
4. Barrington, Illinois
5. Bayshore, New York
6. Buffalo, New York
7. Colonie, New York
8. Detroit, Michigan
9. Elmira, New York
10. Endicott, New York
11. Granville, New York
12. Hoboken, New Jersey
13. Hudson, New York
14. Jersey City, New Jersey
15. Laconia, New Hampshire
16. Little Falls, New York
17. Middlesex County, New Jersey
18. Orangetown, New York
19. Peterborough, New Hampshire
20. Richmond, Illinois
21. Rochester, New York
22. Round Lake Sanitary District, Illinois
23. Tupper Lake, New York
24. Utica, New York
25. Verson, New York
26. Wellsboro, Pennsylvania
27. Western Electric Co., Andover, Massachusetts
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TABLE 2
REGIONAL SUMMARY OF CHLORINE OUTAGE/SHORTAGE INCIDENTS
(June 1973 - January 1974) and
REPORTED SIGNS OF PROBLEMS (for 1974) FOR WATER AND WASTEWATER UTILITIES
Regions
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Signs of Problems
for 1974
East
Region I
(CT,ME,MA,NH,RI,VT)
Region II
(N05NY,PR,VI)
Region III
(DE,MDSPA,VA,WV5DC)
8
0
Region IV
(AL,FL,GA ,KY,MS,NC ,SC ,TN) 2
Subtotal
Central
Region V
(IL,IN,MI,MN,OH,WI)
Region VI
(AR,LA,NM,0K,TX)
Region VII
(IA,KS,M0,NB)
Subtotal
West
Region VIII
(CO,MT,ND,SD,UT,WY)
Region IX
(AZ,CA,HI,NV, Amer. Samoa
Guam, Trust Territories
of Pacific Islands, Wake
Island)
Region X
(AK,ID,0R,WA)
Subtotal
TOTAL
14
1
8
1
0
22
6
13
44
7
0
0
7
1
0
30
6
15
58
11
1
15
2
0
40
8
20
77
15
4
1
20
3
0
Contract, predicted supply
problems; shortage of chlorine
cylinders.
Contract, predicted supply
problems; transportation delays.
Contract, predicted supply
problems.
Contract* predicted supply
problems.
Contract, predicted supply
problems.
Contract, predicted supply pro-
blems; shortage of ton cylinders,
Contract, predicted supply pro-
blems; shortage of ton cylinders
Contract, predicted supply
problems.
Contract problems.
0 Shortage of Chlorine Containers,
3
23 BF
75
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TABLE 3
SUMMARY LIST OF UTILITIES REPORTED AS
EXPERIENCING OUTAGES/SHORTAGES FOR
SODA ASH, LIME AND CAUSTIC SODA
I. Soda Ash (Public Drinking Water Supplies Only)
A. Outages
1. Ames, Iowa
2. Des Moines, Iowa
3. Forest City, Iowa
4. Fort Wayne, Indiana
5. Graffen, North Dakota
6. Jamestown, Rhode Island
7. Mahoning Valley Sanitary District, Ohio
8. Perth Amboy, New Jersey
9- West Virginia: ten or more unidentified
18. supplies.
b. Shortages (down to 1-10 days supply)
1. Aberdeen, South Dakota
2. Arkansas City, Kansas
3. Beresford, South Dakota
4. Britten, South Dakota
5. Carbondale, Kansas
6. Chanute, Kansas
7. Greenville, South Carolina
8. Iola, Kansas
9. Lawrence, Kansas
10. Mitchell, South Dakota
11. Murdo, South Dakota
12. North Augusta, South Carolina
13. Russel, Kansas
14. Springfield, South Dakota
15. Vermillion, South Dakota
16. Webster, South Dakota
17. Wessington-Spring, South Dakota
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TABLE 3 (continued)
II. Lime
A. Outages
None
B. Shortages
None
III. Caustic Soda
A. Outages
None
B. Shortages (Public Drinking Water Supplies, down to 1-10 days supply)
1. Cheraw, South Carolina
2. J.B. Stevens - Utica Mohawk, South Carolina
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TABLE 4
REGIONAL SUMMARY OF SODA ASH OUTAGE/SHORTAGE
INCIDENTS AS OF JANUARY 1974 AND REPORTED SIGNS OF
PROBLEMS FOR 1974 FOR WATER SUPPLY UTILITIES
Regions
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