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EPA Announces Proposed Waiver for Arecibo Wastewater Treatment Plant

Release Date: 10/27/2000
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(#00202) San Juan, Puerto Rico – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced its proposal to grant a waiver from secondary wastewater treatment to the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority (PRASA) for its Arecibo wastewater treatment plant. The EPA proposal would require the Arecibo plant to continue providing advanced primary treatment. The Agency will take public comments on its proposal and will hold a public hearing on December 4, 2000. Today’s proposal follows action in early August to maintain and strengthen the protection of water quality in Caribbean waters. On August 10, EPA Regional Administrator, Jeanne M. Fox and Puerto Rico Governor, Pedro Rosselló, signed an agreement that allows the Puerto Rico to continue to make necessary improvements to its wastewater management infrastructure. One critical component of these improvements will be progress in upgrading the island’s sewer system. The agreement established a framework for Puerto Rico to move voluntarily to secondary treatment at any of the wastewater treatment plants that receive a waiver from secondary treatment requirements, with the explicit purpose of further reducing the discharge of pollutants into Puerto Rico’s ocean waters. The agreement recognizes, among other considerations, that the United States recently signed a new protocol on the protection of the wider Caribbean from land-based sources of pollution. In August of this year, EPA also announced three proposed decisions on specific requests for waivers from secondary treatment for wastewater treatment plants in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. At that time, EPA proposed to grant a waiver for the Aguadilla wastewater treatment plant and announced the denial of the requests for waivers from secondary treatment for the Virgin Islands St. Thomas and St. Croix wastewater treatment plants, based on their failure to meet those same requirements. Commenting on the fact that PRASA has achieved compliance at Arecibo and is working to improve the infrastructure, operation and maintenance throughout the entire system, Jeanne M. Fox, EPA Regional Administrator said, "We are proposing to allow the waiver from secondary treatment at the Arecibo plant because we are convinced that the current level of treatment at the plant is protecting the environment and public health. All monitoring data we have seen for the Arecibo discharge point shows that the plant is and will continue to be protective of the environment without secondary treatment." Comments, postmarked by no later than January 31, 2000, should be sent to Carl Soderberg, Director of the Caribbean Environmental Protection Division, U.S. EPA, 1492 Ponce De Leon Avenue, Suite 417, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00907-4127. The public hearing will be held on December 4, 2000 at the "Centro de Usos Multiples" located in Radioville Development, Road #2 km 0.8 in Arecibo, Puerto Rico at 7:00 pm. There are currently four waivers pending. Decisions on these waiver requests will be made on a case-by-case basis.