EPA Requires City of Tolleson, Ariz. to Comply with Chemical Safety Laws

EPA Requires City of Tolleson, Ariz. to Comply with Chemical Safety Laws

The City of Tolleson will also spend $268,192 on two voluntary supplemental environmental projects (SEPs) to improve the chlorine disinfection system

October 1, 2024

In November 2022, the EPA inspected the Tolleson Wastewater Treatment Plant. Based on the inspection, EPA identified several deficiencies, including:

• Failure to submit annual hazardous chemical inventory forms.
• Failure to complete compliance audits and revalidate process hazard analyses.
• Failure to correct equipment deficiencies on time.
• Failure to adequately maintain proper documentation of its chemical safety program, including process safety information, equipment inspections, and training records.

Following the inspection, the City of Tolleson proactively made significant safety improvements to its facility. It also completed equipment repairs, installed safety signage, and protected its outdoor chlorine cylinders. It improved its documentation management system, completed a compliance audit, and revalidated its process hazard analysis. The Plant has returned to compliance with most deficiencies identified in the inspection report. Only two remaining tasks are due by the end of 2024, as required in the settlement agreement. These tasks include providing documentation for its chlorine storage room's ventilation system and completing all recommendations identified in its latest compliance audit.

The City of Tolleson has also demonstrated its commitment to public health and safety by agreeing to spend $268,192 on two voluntary supplemental environmental projects (SEPs) to improve its chlorine disinfection system. The first project involves installing a new chlorine dosing and detection system that will increase safety and public health protection at the Plant. The second project is a disinfection alternatives study, in which the Plant will determine whether it is more suitable to switch to a less toxic substance than chlorine for its disinfection process.

The SEPs are environmentally beneficial projects or activities that are not required by law but that a party agrees to undertake as part of the settlement of an enforcement action. Such projects or activities go beyond what the respondent could legally require, and they secure environmental and public health benefits in addition to those achieved by compliance with the law.

The Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act requires facilities that store hazardous chemicals to submit annual inventories to state and local regulatory agencies. The inventories require basic facility identification information, employee contact information for emergencies and non-emergencies, information about chemicals stored or used at the facility, and additional data elements applicable to local planners and responders. Learn more about hazardous chemical inventory reporting.

Clean Air Act Risk Management Program:

EPA's Clean Air Act Risk Management Program (RMP) regulations work to prevent accidental chemical releases in our communities and the environment. Facilities holding more than a threshold quantity of a regulated substance are required to comply with EPA's RMP regulations. The regulations require owners or operators of covered facilities to develop and implement an RMP and to submit a risk management plan to EPA. Learn more about the Risk Management Program rule.

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