ARCHIVED REPORTS_XR0008002 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

4 1 6 5 Other Costs Total annual O&M costs now exceed $1,800,000 Other items beyond those listed above must therefore be approximately$600,000 4 1 7 Recurring Problems or Issues 4 1 7 1 Power Outages Frequent power outages and power surges have been experienced From Jan 1997 through March 1998 there were 35 power disruption events This number only includes events that occurred during off-duty hours Power surges and outages are due to direct lightning stnkes to lines or poles on-site, or, more frequently, are due to lightning and other factors that affect the power provided by the local utility company Power surges or fluctuations may cause all, or some, of the extraction wells to shut down The variable frequency drive (VFD) motor of each extraction well pump is protected from changes in voltage Increases or decreases in voltage of greater than 10 % will shut off power to the motor Extraction wells must be manually re-started after a power outage A considerable amount of time is required to drive from the plant to each of the extraction wells After a power outage, it takes about 4 hours to re-start the extraction wells and return the plant to normal operation 4 1 7 2 Roads When conditions are wet, travel on the dirt roads becomes difficult This typically occurs in March, April, and May Precipitation combined with thawing of the ground creates the greatest problems As part of normal operations, infection and extraction wells must be checked by operators Vehicles often become stuck in the mud in transit Improving the roads should be considered 4 1 8 Regulatory Compliance The installation has an approval order from the State to discharge directly from the air stnppers to the atmosphere in accordance with State Air Quality Regulations 4 1 9 Treatment Process Excursions and Upsets, Accidental Contaminant/Reagent Releases Based on information made available to the team, there have been a few uncontrolled releases of contaminated water to the environment during operation of the plant On one occasion, a pipeline connection failed On another occasion, the surge tank overfilled because the treatment plant shut down after a power failure, but the wells continued to operate In this instance, a large quantity of untreated water was released Corrective measures have been put in place to prevent similar occurrences Soil sampling along the path of the released water failed to detect contaminants There had also been a very minor accidental release of several gallons of purge water from well sampling during transport back to the treatment plant All incidents had been reported to the proper regulatory authorities and addressed as required by them 4 1 10 Safety Record The plant appears to have had an excellent safety record with over 1900 consecutive days without a lost-erne accident 4 2 Recommendations 4 2 1 Technology Changes ' 4 2 1 1 Source Removal There is some evidence that a continuing source of contamination may be present Lateral migration may have occurred in the vadose zone so that the capped areas (1 e , 06/07/99 Page 8of14