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Class I Municipal Disposal Wells in Florida
EPA developed a rule revising the requirements for disposal of treated municipal wastewater below underground sources of drinking water (USDW) in certain counties in Florida. This rule provides a regulatory alternative to owners and operators to continue to operate their existing wells, provided they meet additional wastewater treatment requirements. The rule also mandates that all new municipal wells meet the additional treatment requirements.
For more than 20 years, some municipalities in Florida have been using underground injection as an alternative to surface disposal of treated domestic wastewater. Evidence suggests that, at several of these facilities, the injected fluids are migrating upward into underground sources of drinking water. Because operation of Class I wells with fluid movement into an USDW is prohibited by federal Underground Injection Control (UIC) regulations, these facilities would be forced to cease injecting and adopt an alternative method to manage their wastewater, which could increase the environmental risks to surface water and coastal environments.
In this rule, EPA amended the current federal UIC regulations to allow owners and operators of Class I municipal disposal wells in specific areas of Florida to continue using their wells, even if they have caused or may have caused movement of fluid into a USDW, provided they meet new requirements to treat their municipal wastewater with pretreatment, secondary treatment, and high-level disinfection prior to injection.
EPA believes this requirement will address viruses and bacteria (i.e., pathogens) which the Agency’s 2002 Relative Risk Assessment of Management Options for Treated Wastewater in South Florida identified as the contaminant in municipal wastewater that presents the greatest risk to USDWs. High-level disinfection of this municipal wastewater is an effective method to render pathogens harmless.
EPA has also found that pretreatment programs and prohibitions on wastewater from significant industrial users have prevented contaminants from getting into wastewater in the first place, and that secondary treatment is a critical step in wastewater treatment prior to high-level disinfection.
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) oversees the UIC Program in the State. FDEP has adopted this federal rule and has incorporated it into the State's approved UIC program.