[Pharmwaste] What hit us?

[Ed Gottlieb]

Hi All,
 
Looking for ideas of what sort of discharge might have hit my plant.
 
A. Influent Pre-treatment
    1. Nothing unusual detected at the bar screen
B. Primary Tank:
    1. No unusual smell or color.
    2. 6.9 pH is just slightly more acidic than usual
    3. Bright white foam in Primary Effluent Channel (coming off of
weirs).
        Amount has decreased over the last couple of hours.
C. Secondary
    1.Biology very disrupted, protozoa mostly dead.
    2. Large amounts of fine solids present.
    3. Moderate amounts of light brown foam.
D. Clarifier
     1. Covered in brown scum.
     2. Channel after weirs have small amounts of bright white foam
     3.  Losing solids
E. Post Tertiary
     1. Large amounts of bright white foam in final effluent channel.

     2. Losing some solids (still meeting permit limit)
F. Effluent Flow Meter showed four spikes last night.
     I’m assuming these were actually large clumps of foam passing
under the level sensor.
G. Internal Flows
    There is no indication that digester and belt press overflows have
changed.
H. Collection System
    Crews have been dispatched to check pump stations for foaming or
other problems.
    No report yet.
I. Most of our largest contributors (a college, laundry, hospital, and
city facilities) report no unusual cleaning or maintenance activities
over the weekend.
   Still waiting to hear back from Cornell University.  We have very
little in the way of industry in Ithaca.
 
Knowing when the first flow spike happened and knowing our retention
time, we were probably hit Sunday morning.  I’m thinking that it was a
slug since there is currently no foam in the influent building and the
amount of foam in the primary effluent channel has been dropping.
 
Since we have foam and something toxic, I wonder if the cause might be
a detergent with biocide.  Possibly a cooling tower cleaner?  Or
possibly a degreaser?
 
Your ideas about what type of discharges to look for would be
appreciated.  What lab tests should we do?  I assume we should test the
primary and final effluent rather than the influent.  Are there any
tests that can be done to quantify the amount and type of surfactants
present?
 
Currently, I’m considering a press release requesting information on
any non-routine discharges.
 
We have an active trucked waste program, though nothing we receive
would cause these problems.  Other than leachate, our trucked waste is
pumped into an anaerobic digester.
 
Thanks for your ideas!
 
Ed
 
 
Ed Gottlieb
Industrial Pretreatment Coordinator
Ithaca Area Wastewater Treatment Facility
525 3rd Street
Ithaca, NY  14850
(607) 273-8381
fax: (607) 273-8433
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