Are there Facilities in NY that can handle Shale Gas Development Wastewater?

YES!

Chapter 7 of the sGEIS discusses the issue of wastewater management.

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7.1.8.1. Facilities Accepting Waste from natural gas development

SPDES permits are issued to wastewater dischargers, including treatment facilities such as

Publically Owned Treatment Works (POTW’s) operated by municipalities. SPDES permits include specific discharge limitations and monitoring requirements. The effluent limitations are the maximum allowable concentrations and/or mass loadings for various physical, chemical, and/or biological parameters to ensure that there are no impacts to the receiving water body.

è (The discharge limits HAVE to be met or else a facility is in non-compliance with its permit and is subject to legal consequences)

POTWs

A POTW must have an approved pretreatment program, or mini-pretreatment program, developed in accordance with the above requirements in order to accept industrial wastewater from non-domestic sources

The NYSDEC’s Division of Water shares pretreatment program oversight (approval authority) responsibility with the USEPA.

è (POTW deal with state and federal authority and oversight in the issue of industrial waste- Not the Division of Mineral Resources but the Division of Water)

… Pretreatment or mini-pretreatment programs are required to notify NYSDEC of new discharges

è (i.e. if a POTW wants to accept wastewater)

COMMON MISCONCEPTION: There are no facilities in NY equipped to handle wastewater.
The following list of 91 (Ninety-One) Pretreatment facilities is taken from the dsGEIS is a list of wastewater treatment plants that CURRENTLY have the capability to treat Wastewater from shale gas development activities. There is also a list of mini-treaters that with modification can manage wastewater from shale gas development.

Inwood STP
Bay Park STP
Cedar Creek WPCP
Glen Cove STP
Suffolk DPW Suffolk Co. SD #3 - Southwest NY0104809
 Wards Island WPCP
Owls Head WPCP
Newtown Creek WPCP
Jamaica WPCP
North River WPCP
26th Ward WPCP
Coney Island WPCP
Red Hook WPCP
Tallman Island WPCP
Bowery Bay WPCP
Rockaway WPCP
Oakwood Beach WPCP
Port Richmond WPCP
Hunts Point WPCP
Suffern NY0022748
Orangetown SD #2 NY0026051
Orange County SD #1 Harriman STP NY0027901
 Newburgh WPCF NY0026310
Westchester County Blind Brook
Mamaroneck
New Rochelle
Ossining
Port Chester
Peekskill
Yonkers Joint
Rockland County SD #1 NY0031895
Poughkeepsie STP NY0026255
 New Windsor STP NY0022446
 Beacon STP NY0025976
Haverstraw Joint Regional Sewer Board
Haverstraw Joint Regional Stp NY0028533
Kingston (C) WWTF NY0029351
Amsterdam STP NY0020290
Albany County North WWTF
South WWTF
Schenectady (C) Schenectady WPCP NY0020516
Rennselaer County SD #1 Rennselaer County SD #1
City of Plattsburgh WPCP
Glens Falls (C) Glens Fall (C)
Gloversville-Johnstown Joint Board
Saratoga County SD #1
Region Pretreatment Program Facility SPDES Number
Little Falls WWTP NY0022403
Herkimer County Herkimer County SD NY0036528
Rome (C) Rome WPCF NY0030864
Ogdensburg (C) City of Ogdensburg WWTP NY0029831
Oneida County NY0025780
Watertown NY0025984 Has already Treated Marcellus Wastewater Successfully
Auburn STP NY0021903
Fulton (C) NY0026301
Oswego (C) Westside Wastewater Facility
Eastside Wastewater Facility
Cortland (C) LeRoy R. Summerson WTF
Endicott (V) Endicott WWTF
Ithaca (C) NY0026638
Binghamton-Johnson City NY0024414
Onondaga County Metropolitan Syracuse
Baldwinsville/Seneca Knolls
Meadowbrook/Limestone
Oak Orchard
Wetzel Road
 Canandaigua STP NY0025968
Webster (T) Walter W. Bradley WPCP
Monroe County Frank E VanLare STP
Northwest Quadrant STP
Batavia (C) NY0026514
Geneva (C) Marsh Creek STP NY0027049
Newark (V) NY0029475
Chemung County Chemung County SD #1
Chemung County - Elmira
Chemung County - Baker Road
Middleport (V) STP NY0022331
North Tonawanda (C) NY0026280
Newfane STP (T) NY0027774
Erie County Southtowns Erie County Southtowns
Erie County SD #2 - Big Sister
Niagara County Niagara County SD #1 NY0027979
Blasdell (V) Blasdell NY0020681
Buffalo Sewer Authority Buffalo (C)
Amherst SD (T)
Niagara Falls (C)
Tonawanda (T) Tonawanda (T) SD #2 WWTP
Lockport (C)
Olean STP (C)
Jamestown STP (C)
Dunkirk STP (C)