Control effluent and odour hazards over a 48-hour watch

What is going on

After a pulp line upset the effluent biochemical oxygen demand has risen to 46 against a licence limit of 50, above the internal target of 40. The morning odour patrol recorded a faint odour at the eastern boundary during a light easterly, four days after a recovery boiler total reduced sulphur exceedance that is still under investigation. The HSE Manager has asked you to take charge of environmental monitoring for 48 hours: review the log, increase sampling as the procedure requires, identify and control the sources, prepare a regulator notification in case of an exceedance, and brief her each afternoon. The effluent plant aeration has been increased and the pulp line is recovering.

Your brief

Manage the environmental monitoring and hazard control for the watch period in accordance with the Environmental Management Policy and the Chemical Spill and Environmental Incident Response Procedure, record readings and actions in the Environmental Discharge and Emissions Log and the Incident and Hazard Register, and prepare the notification and briefing documents.

Work through it

You do not need to do it all. Doing a few of these will show you what the work is like. Your ticks and notes stay on this device.

• Read the Environmental Management Policy and the Chemical Spill and Environmental Incident Response Procedure, and list the licence limits, the monitoring frequencies and the notification rules that apply to effluent BOD and boundary odour.
• Review the Environmental Discharge and Emissions Log and the open incident INC-26-0219, and write a situation summary that identifies the likely sources of the BOD rise and the odour.
• Set a monitoring plan for the 48 hours with doubled effluent sampling, odour patrols timed to the wind, and recovery boiler readings, naming who takes each sample and reading.
• Identify the controls available to reduce BOD load and odour, such as aeration, diversion of high strength streams to the spill pond, recovery boiler firing stability and clarifier wasting, and state which you will apply and who must approve each.
• Create Environmental Discharge and Emissions Log records for the watch period showing readings for BOD, suspended solids, pH, flow and boundary odour with the status and action for each.
• Prepare a draft regulator notification that would be sent if the BOD limit were exceeded, stating what the licence requires, the information to be included and who signs it.
• Write the afternoon briefing for the HSE Manager for each of the two days, and create or update an Incident and Hazard Register entry for the odour event with actions, owners and dates.
• Explain how the water system and effluent plant troubleshooting you carried out will be closed out so the plant returns to normal operation.

What someone in this role would produce

• Situation summary with likely sources
• 48-hour monitoring plan
• Environmental log records for the watch
• Draft regulator notification
• Two afternoon briefings and the Incident and Hazard Register entry