10-2182 Opposing Proposal by US Enviornmental Protection Agency to Enact New Numeric Nutrient Criteria for Water Quality Standards

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April 27, 2010 EXHIBIT'A" City of Casselberry Public Works Director 95 Triplet Lake Drive, Casselberry, Florida 32707 • Telephone (407) 262-7725, Ext. 1233 Fax (407) 262-7767 • Finail etorres@casselberiy.org U.S. Env ronmental Protection Agency Attention Docket ID No. WPA-HQ-OW-2009-0596 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20460 Subject, Objection to the Federal Proposal to Establish Numeric Nutrient Criteria in Florida's Lakes and Flowing Waters Dear Sir/Madam: EPA issued rigorous numeric nutrient criteria (NNC) on January 15, 2010 for the state of Florida fresh lakes and flowing waters including springs, spring runs, canals and streams. The NNG produceE a significant challenge both from a biological and economic standpoint. The NNC originates from basic methods that neglect the existing natural conditions, such as existing naturally high chlorophyll levels in the water and the natural sources of nutrients such as atmospheric deposition, soil, rocks, vegetation or groundwater. Rainfall itself violates the criteria hi many Florida locations. In addition, the criteria should be designed to prevent biological impairment. For instance, biological community impacts could occur for a long time frame without exceeding the criteria. Conversely, in many instances, natural systems that frequently exceed the criteria may still demonstrate a viable, balanced, native ecosystem. Clearly the proposed NNC do not have a reasonable biological response basis. The baseline cost from EPA is insufficient due to the unsuitable or nonexistent use of the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)'s draft criteria. Also, EPA's incremental cost estimate is a gross underestimate by several orders of magnitude. This underestimate is due in part to the requirement of alternate disposal methods for domestic wastewater, the need for deep-we`:l injection or back-up surface water discharge, and the assumption of the unlikely event that receiving waters would be downgraded. EPA needs to conduct a more efficient economic impact investigation as well as an attainability analysis. To emphasize, most existing enhanced treatment methods are incapable of meeting the proposed criteria. It is imperative to recognize that the NNC would have to be met at the discharge point because mixing zones are not allowed in surface waters that will become impaired because of the strict criteria. There are no surface water discharges in Florida that currently achieve the criteria at the point of discharge. Therefore, in order to achieve the NNC, Florida's high level treatment, advanced wastewater treatment (AWT) followed by membrane systems would be required, which leads to a momentous increase in energy, carbon footprint and a massive resultant sludge that requires disposal. It should be noted that neither the City of Casselberry's wastewater treatment system nor the majority of wastewater treatment systems in Florida meet AWT. Further, existing systems typically cannot simply be retrofitted to meet AWT.