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PRASA Agrees to Spend Nearly Three Quarters of a Million Dollars on Sludge Handling Improvements; Pay a Penalty for Past Clean Air Act Violations

Release Date: 01/18/2001
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(#01007) San Juan, Puerto Rico – The Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority (PRASA) will spend nearly $700,000 to improve how it handles sludge from both its Puerto Nuevo and Bayamon sewage treatment plants and will pay an $80,000 penalty for past violations of the federal Clean Air Act, according to a settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Under the terms of the agreement, PRASA will permanently retire two antiquated incinerators once used to burn sludge from the Puerto Nuevo, Bayamon and several other wastewater treatment plants. PRASA intends to build a modern, efficient incinerator to handle the Puerto Nuevo sludge. In addition, PRASA agreed to install equipment to better handle the sludge at its Bayamon Sewage Treatment Plant so that it no longer has to truck wet Bayamon sludge. "The improvements agreed to in today’s settlement will allow PRASA to treat its sludge and reduce the impacts on both the environment and people’s quality of life along the sludge truck route," said Jeanne M. Fox. "PRASA used to truck approximately 1,000 tons of sludge a year from Bayamon Regional to the Puerto Nuevo plant. Now, they will be able to de-water the sludge at the Bayamon plant, making it easier, more efficient and safer to treat and transport." "Today's settlement will assure that PRASA does not reactivate its existing antiquated Puerto Nuevo incinerators and cause further particulate emissions in violation of the Clean Air Act," said Lois Schiffer, Assistant Attorney General for the Environment Division at the Justice Department. Under the Consent Decree with EPA, PRASA will pay $80,000 in penalties for its failure to properly operate incinerators at its Puerto Nuevo plant. Under the Clean Air Act, PRASA was required to operate controls, called scrubbers, to reduce particulate matter emitted from the incinerator stacks. While PRASA did have the control equipment, PRASA sometimes failed to properly operate the control equipment before it ceased using the existing incinerators. PRASA currently landfills its sludge and has not operated either of its old incinerators since December 1998; because they are still physically present and there is a chance that they could be used, EPA is requiring the Authority to permanently retire them. PRASA intends to install state-of-the-art fluidized bed incinerators to treat sewage sludge from its Puerto Nuevo plant. Fluidized bed technology is a modern, more efficient method of incineration used to treat sludge. In addition, PRASA will spend $692,000 to install two large belt filter presses at its Bayamon plant.