Spent a while tonight explaining to my son the absolute importance of me driving about 10 hours for a quart of water and how the environment would be much more protected by me doing this. My company is putting a plant in Maryland. We will dischage water from three cooling towers at a reate of about 1 gallon per minute (less than you use to take a shower). The water will come from a well that is yet to be drilled, and I must characterize the water for the discharge permit. Since the well that will be the source for this water is not yet drilled, I found a well nearby and am driving about 500 miles round trip to get a sample for analysis.
The cooling towers are not treated, so the only thing discharged will be the well water. 80% of the water is evaporated in the cooling tower, so what-ever is in the water will be 5 x the concentration of the well. I've found a well nearby that is probably in the same aquifer and am going to get a sample. I'll also map and take pictures of the 1-2 miles this water must travel to get to a "pond" then to a river and then to the Chesapeak bay. Although the water will never get there, unless there is a heck of a rainfall, this is still very important.
Maryland rules say water discharged in any quantity must be permitted. I feel safer knowing that a 1 gallon per minute flow is just as important as a 5000 gallon per minute flow.
Nothing in the regs that allow applying logic or common sense. And you wonder why industry complains about environmental rules?
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