1 Indiana Regional Sewer District Association Annual Meeting Thomas W. Easterly, P.E., BCEE, Commissioner Indiana Department of Environmental Management.

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Indiana Regional Sewer District Association Annual Meeting

Thomas W. Easterly, P.E., BCEE, CommissionerIndiana Department of Environmental Management

October 28, 2013 Ritz Charles

Carmel, Indiana

IDEM’s MissionProtecting Hoosiers and Our Environment

While Becoming the Most Customer-Friendly Environmental Agency

IDEM’s mission is to implement federal and state regulations to protect human health and the environment while allowing the environmentally sound operations of industrial, agricultural, commercial and government activities vital to a prosperous economy.

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How Does IDEM Protect Hoosiers and Our Environment?

• Develop regulations and issue permits to restrict discharges to environmentally safe levels.

• Inspect and monitor permitted facilities to ensure compliance with the permits.

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How Does IDEM Protect Hoosiers and Our Environment?

• Use compliance assistance and/or enforcement when people exceed their permit levels or violate regulations.

• Educate people on their environmental responsibilities.

• Clean up contaminated sites to eliminate public exposure to toxics and return properties to productive use.

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Performance Metrics September 2013Result Target Comments

Quality of Hoosiers' Environment

% of Hoosiers that live in counties that meet air quality standards 87.64% 100% 80%

Muncie Lead; Ozone in Clark, Floyd, Greene and LaPorte Counties, Sulfur Dioxide in parts of Daviess, Marion, Morgan, Pike and Vigo Counties

% of CSO Communities with approved programs to prevent the release of untreated sewage

99.07% 100% 90% 98+9 (107) out of 99+9 (108). Not Gary

% of Hoosiers that receive water from facilities in full compliance with safe drinking water standards

99.40% 99% 95%  

Permitting EfficiencyTotal calendar days accumulated in issuing environmental permits, as determined by state statute*Land 22,647 31,714 35,445 37,310 statutoryAir 49,179 55,740 62,298 65,577 statutoryWater 32,269 57,859 64,666 68,070 statutory

* Places emphasis on back logged permitsComplianceTotal percentage of compliance observations from regulated customers within acceptable compliance standards*Inspections 96.77% 97% 75%  Self reporting 97.99% 99% 95%  Continuous monitoring (COM) 99.83% 99.9% 99.0%  

* Tracks observations and not just inspections5

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Performance Metrics June 2005Quality of Hoosiers' Environment Result Target Comments

% of Hoosiers in counties meeting air quality standards 61% 100% 80% 12 counties & 2,408,571 of

6,195,643 above standard

% of CSO Communities with approved programs to prevent the release of untreated sewage 4% 100% 20% 75% by 2007 is goal

Permitting Efficiency Total calendar days accumulated in issuing environmental permits, as determined by state statute*

Land 100,013 66,565 86,864

Air 511,000 207,000 385,000

Water 301,000 48,000 200,000

* Places emphasis on back logged permits

Compliance Total percentage of compliance observations from regulated customers within acceptable compliance standards*

Inspections 95.46% 97% 75%

Self reporting 97.11% 99% 95%

Continuous monitoring (COM) 99.19% 99.90% 98.95%

* Tracks observations and not just inspections

Organizational Transformation Budgetary agency dollars spent on key outside contracts for core agency functions.

Dollars spent on outside services per year $6,179,367 $0 $3,447,017

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Permits--Percent of Statutory Days

0

50

100

150

200

250

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Percentage of allowable days

Best in NPDES Permitting

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Water QualityIndiana Combined Sewer Overflow Status

Initiatives Impacting RSDs

• District Plan updates• Stationary internal combustion engines initiative• Nutrients• eDMRs

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District Plan Updates• With the exception of five grandfathered

districts, each district is required to file a district plan in accordance with IC 13-26-6.

• A search of IDEM’s files could not locate required plans for 81 of the 103 RSDs.

• On September 8, 2013, Lynne Newlon sent requests to these 81 districts requesting copies of their district plans.

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District Plan Updates• As of October 18, 2013, the status of the

updates were:– 29 District Plans at IDEM– 5 District Plans promised in the near future– 30 District Plans promised later– 30 Districts not yet responding– 5 Grandfathered districts– 4 Dormant districts.– 103 total districts

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Stationary Internal Combustion Engine Initiative

• Recent changes in federal regulations have lowered the air pollution permitting threshold for some stationary engines that are smaller than those in our cars and trucks.

• Emergency generators at water and wastewater plants sometimes exceed the permitting threshold.

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Stationary Internal Combustion Engine Initiative

• On March 28, 2013, IDEM initiated a limited liability program for water and wastewater utilities that had constructed and operated these devices but did not have the proper permits.

• While the limited liability program has ended, IDEM will work with utilities that self-disclose unpermitted sources.

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Nutrients• Reported algae problems in the world’s

surface waters are increasing.• In addition to being a nuisance, some forms

of algae generate potent toxins and decaying algae can lower the oxygen content of the water killing aquatic life.

• U.S. EPA has identified Lake Erie and the Gulf of Mexico as having serious problems.

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Nutrients• The exact cause of the increasing algae

issue is unknown, but excessive nutrients have been identified as a contributing factor.

• These excessive nutrient levels are well below safe drinking water standards.

• Fresh water lakes seem to be phosphorous limited while the oceans seem to be nitrogen limited.

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Nutrients• The levels of nutrients in surface waters

that scientists indicate will prevent algae issues are below the levels that can be achieved by wastewater treatment plants.

• Unregulated nonpoint sources of nutrients often cause waters to exceed the nutrient levels recommended by scientists.

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Nutrients• U.S. EPA is conducting research on

affordable wastewater treatment technologies for nutrients.

• This issue will likely result in the need for additional treatment at existing wastewater facilities in the future.

• There is no current regulatory requirement or deadline for this additional treatment.

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eDMRs• IDEM currently accepts Discharge Monitoring

Reports on paper forms and manually enters the data into the federal computer system.

• On July, 30, 2013, U.S. EPA proposed to require that DMRs be submitted electronically by the permit holder.

• The comment deadline is December 12, 2013.

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Questions?

Tom EasterlyCommissioner

Indiana Department of Environmental Management(317) 232-8611

[email protected]

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