New rules on the books for Bay Area drycleaners
The Bay Area Air Quality Management District adopted several new regulations (pdf) last month that affect the approximate 500 cleaners operating in its
jurisdiction, a nine-county region in the San Francisco, CA, area.
The new rules will prohibit the use of spotting solutions containing halogenated
solvents; lower the permit exemption level for plants using non-halogenated
solvents; prohibit dip tank operations; and expand operating practices,
record-keeping and reporting requirements.
As of July 1, the purchase of halogenated solvent spotting formulations — those containing perc, trichloroethylene or methylene chloride, for example — will be banned. Use of these formulations will be allowed for another year,
until July 1, 2010, so that existing inventories can be used.
BAAQMD said newer, effective spotting formulations without these ingredients
exist and the ban will stop continued exposure of workers or nearby residents
to these substances and prevent their introduction into effluent streams.
BAAQMD said 56 percent of the 500 cleaners in its jurisdiction still use perc,
but that number is expected to drop rapidly as the statewide phase-out of perc
takes place. Most of the non-perc operations are using a high flash point
hydrocarbon (37 percent); GreenEarth (three percent) or Rynex (less than one
percent).
Those operators and others who join them as they phase out perc must comply with
the new rules adopted by the district. These include no new transfer equipment,
although transfer machines in operation can continue until they are ready for
replacement; record-keeping for exemption or permit compliance purposes; annual
reporting; registration of new equipment and registration of ownership changes.
The exemption level for permits has been reduced and the district believes that
up to 20 previously exempt hydrocarbon operators will now need to get a permit.
The new exemption level will be 200 gallons of solvent a year, down from the
previous 700 gallons.
Approximately 95 percent of existing exempt facilities will continue to be
exempt from permitting requirements, BAAQMD believes. Cleaners who are exempt
will still need to register, pay an annual fee of $125, and keep records of
solvent purchases and file annual reports to remain exempt.
Those using more than 200 gallons a year will need to get a permit from the
district in addition to paying the registration fee. The permits are renewable
annually.
Plants still using perc will need to report to BAAQMD by Dec. 31 on their plans
for either installing alternative solvent equipment or retiring existing
equipment. BAAQMD said this will encourage submission or all applicable
paperwork for alternative solvent equipment and “facilitate an orderly transition” in advance of the perc phase-out period which begins in July of next year.
Several types of cleaning systems will remain unregulated by BAAQMD. Those
include liquid carbon dioxide, wetcleaning and Green-Jet.
EPA testing for perc in Visalia
Six groundwater monitoring wells were installed by the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency in Visalia, CA, last month to test perc levels, which
officials believe is related to solvent releases from drycleaning operations in
the area.
A state investigation has been underway since 2007 after California’s Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) identified 25 public drinking
water supply wells with the solvent in the water. DTSC received an EPA grant to
begin looking at perc levels in Visalia's groundwater in 2007 and has tested 73
wells and several of the 272 other private and public wells under Visalia, a
central California city situated in the heart of the agricultural San Joaquin
Valley.
The EPA said it will obtain and analyze environmental samples during a 10-day
sampling and investigate potential human and environmental exposure to
hazardous substances. Portions of soil collected during the drilling will also
be tested. Testing and a final report on the sites could be completed in a
couple of months.
Two drycleaning businesses are in the area, as well as the locations of two
former drycleaning businesses. As many as six other dry cleaners may have
operated over the years the vicinity. One of the former drycleaning sites is
now a parking lot; the other is a law office.
Up until the early 1990s, perc could be discharged into sewers with wastewater. Leaks, pipe breaks and spills let perc get into the ground and then migrate into
the water table. Thus, the soil contamination could have occurred years ago,
and only now is slowly seeping into the groundwater. However, current owners of
those properties — even if they aren't drycleaners now — could be liable for at least part of the cleanup costs if the DTSC research
shows their properties as the sources.
Measures taken to ensure that drinking water in Visalia meets state and federal
safe drinking water standards include closing three downtown wells, all in the
vicinity of the four current and former drycleaners, and enhanced monitoring of
operating wells, EPA said. Four wells have had carbon filters installed in
their extraction pumps to remove the perc.
