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STATE OF CALIFORNIA—ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION. ENCY PETE WILSON,Governor DEPARTMENT OF TOXIC SUBSTANCES CONTROL 400 P Street.4th Floor P.O. Boz 806 + Sacramento.CA 95812-0806 PBR FACT Sm= - CYANIDE TREATMENT This fact sheet is intended to clarify the regulatory status of treatment of cyanide bearing wastewaters under Permit by Rule (PBR). If your facility does not treat cyanide bearing wastestreams, please disregard this fact sheet. CURRENT REGULATORY STATUS OF CYANIDE BEARING WASTESTREAMS: Cyanide bearing wastestreams are not currently one of the twelve wastestreams addressed by the PBR regulations in Title 22, California Code of Regulations (CCR), Section 67450.11. Thus, a permit by rule under these regulations does not authorize a facility to treat cyanides under PBR. Certain cyanide bearing wastestreams may, however, be treated under PBR under the following conditions: - The wastestream would otherwise meet one of the descriptions of a PBR wastestream as listed in Title 22, CCR, section 67450.11; and - The wastestream is being treated only by one of the technologies listed for that wastestream in Title 22, CCR, section 67450.11 and by a cyanide treatment technology; and - The concentration of cyanide in the waste is not high enough to classify the waste as extremely hazardous waste or reactive hazardous waste (see discussion below). EXCLUSIONS FROM PBR: There are two major exceptions to PBR in the current regulations which directly affect treatment of cyanide bearing wastestreams. These exceptions are found in Title 22, CCR, section 67450.11(a). A discussion of these exceptions follows: Extremely Hazardous Wastes may not be treated under PBR (Title 22, CCR, section 67450.11(a). Extremely hazardous wastes pose an immediate threat to human health and safety because of their high level of toxicity or carcinogenicity and must be managed according to stricter standards than other hazardous wastes. Criteria for identifying extremely hazardous wastes are found in Title 22, CCR, sections 66261.107 through 66261.113. Those sections identify wastes as extremely hazardous wastes on the basis of toxicological data and lists of constituents. The level of cyanide that would make a waste extremely hazardous depends not only on the concentration of cyanide but also on the concentration and toxicity of other constituents of the wastestream. The toxicity of the entire wastestream must be determined by testing or by applying the criteria of Title 22, CCR, section 66261.24(c) to known toxicological data. n t�