The Federal Clean Water Act (CWA) celebrates its 30th year anniversary in 2002, as we recently reported (“Watered Down?” by Steven Prokopy, October 2002). That article described how the CWA provided the concrete industry with both the promise of wastewater infrastructure construction opportunities and the reality of governmental constraints on those opportunities. But enhanced marketing opportunities may not be the single largest impact on the concrete industry. Since its passage in 1972, the CWA has resulted in some of the most significant, almost revolutionary, changes in plant operations and corporate philosophy ever seen in the ready mixed concrete industry.

BACKGROUND

Congress passed the CWA in response to national concern over degraded water quality and the prevalence of water pollution in our nation's waterways, much in response to final outrage of seeing the Cuyahoga River in Ohio catch fire. In response, the CWA was designed and enacted to prevent the unwanted further degradation through the regulation and control of all discharges of pollution into any waters of the United States.

The CWA created a body of regulation that provided the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency or delegated state environmental agencies the ability to issue permits for the discharge of pollutants subject to strict limitations, through the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permitting program. At the time of its passage, the primary focus of the CWA was “point source” discharges of industrial water pollution, often referred to wastewater or process waters. In response to the initial CWA passage, water quality in this country began to improve in many areas, and has shown a fairly consistent trend away from the days of rivers catching fire. However, in the 1980s it became apparent that nonpoint sources of water pollution, such as stormwater discharges, have as large an impact on waterways as did those point source process/wastewater discharges that had been regulated since 1972.

In 1992, the CWA was amended to include provisions to require a multi-phased approach to permit stormwater discharges from a variety of sources, including industrial facilities such as ready mixed concrete plants. A further complication to this picture involves not the discharge of polluted waters to surface waterways, but to “groundwaters” as well.

The Federal CWA, at present, only regulates the discharge of process wastewaters and stormwater to surface waters (e.g., lakes, streams, rivers, wetlands, etc.), but not to those impoundments designed to promote infiltration of process wastewater or stormwater to underlying soils and groundwater. Many states, under their own water pollution control regulations, have chosen to include these “discharges to groundwater” as additional types of regulated discharges. An example discharge of this nature from concrete plants might include truck washing into unlined settling basins which in many areas might require a state-issued NPDES permit.

IMPACT ON CONCRETE INDUSTRY

With the initial passage of the CWA, several categories of industries were identified as having particularly significant capability to result in water pollution discharges, based on prior EPA understanding of those industries' operational characteristics. Those industries wound up having specific “Federal effluent guidelines” emplaced on their operations, which strictly controlled what could, and could not, be discharged to the waters of the U.S. The concrete industry did not (and still doesn't) have a specific Federal effluent guideline (nor did affiliated concrete industries such as block and brick or precast). This seemed to indicate that the concrete industry was not being specifically identified as being a significant generator of water pollution; a view that brought both a false sense of security to the industry and a deficit of vigorous enforcement by the regulatory community.

Thirty years after passage of the CWA, it should be common knowledge to all in the concrete industry that ready mixed plants have a very real capacity to generate regulated discharges, both process wastewater and stormwater. Both of these distinctly different types of discharges are regulated under the CWA, mandating that the concrete industry has the regulatory responsibility to properly permit these discharges, or eliminate them, or risk significant civil or criminal penalties.

Concrete plants generate process wastewaters through a wide variety of practices, including truck mixer barrel washout, truck and chute washoff, discharges from settling basins, plant and grounds cleaning, dust control, stockpile watering, etc. (Note: Many states have their own definition of what activities constitute process water, which may differ from those of other states. Always check with your environmental regulatory agency if in doubt.)

Stormwater discharge associated with industrial activity occurs at any concrete plant when it rains on materials capable of imparting pollutants (such as solids or cementitious materials capable of changing the pH of the water) to stormwater that is then discharged. The discharge of either process wastewaters and/or stormwater require NPDES permitting under the CWA. And, at those plants located in areas with state discharge to groundwater regulations, any discharges into unlined pits or basins may also require similar NPDES permitting.

So clearly, the first significant impact on concrete operations is that after the 1972 passage of the CWA, an entire industry has had to face the realization that not only did it have the capability to be a water polluter, but that it needed to interact with an environmental regulatory agency to obtain proper permitting to manage those discharges. For many concrete producers, this represented their first entry into the now-prevalent world of environmental issues, and was a change accompanied by paperwork, recordkeeping, water quality monitoring and adherence with numerical limits, training, inspections, enforcement, and unfortunately, fines and penalties for non-compliance. For most within the concrete industry used to doing business the “old way,” his represented a case of culture shock that many even now continue to adjust to.

The CWA also focused attention on the environmental aspects of concrete plants in a way not seen before. For the first time, environmental inspectors began to look at concrete plant operations with an eye towards careful environmental management. This increased attention, and the trend of governmental oversight of environmental matters started for many with the CWA and continues as an accepted part of life within the concrete industry.

OPERATIONAL CHANGES

Concrete plant operations have also changed significantly in response to the CWA. Gone are the days of irresponsible barrel washout or excess concrete mismanagement. Today, the concrete industry has made great strides towards not only complying with the CWA, but also to doing so in a way that provides both operational and financial benefits. Plant design and operational characteristics are now done so with the CWA firmly in mind. Effective, and compliant, water management schemes are now the standard at concrete plants throughout the country. These plants are not only providing individual CWA compliance, but are collectively part of an industry that is helping to preserve and protect this country's precious water supplies.

The CWA has affected all stakeholders within the concrete industry. For example, there have been numerous advancements now common within the industry that were designed to handle operational concerns and provide a competitive advantage, while ensuring CWA compliance. The concrete reclaimer segment is a prime example, offering equipment designed to handle operational concerns (excess concrete and washwater) in a compliant manner as well as providing financial benefit (e.g., returned aggregate savings). Similarly, the primary factor in driving the concrete industry towards gray water rebatching (making new concrete with process water rather than discharging it) clearly is the presence of CWA regulations; it is simply easier and cheaper to rebatch than to discharge, and has the added benefit of CWA compliance.

Further examples of an industry being created in response to the CWA include slurry rebatchers, chute control devices, jobsite washout devices, water treatment systems for concrete plants, hydration control admixtures, and many more. It is clear that a large segment of the concrete industry today is driven by the need to meet and exceed the challenges created by the CWA.

Philosophically, the CWA initiated the beginning of a profound change in the concrete industry. Never again could the industry focus solely on concrete and the production and quality control aspects of the industry, but would now have to balance these concerns along with environmental issues. Today, environmental commitment is at the core of a large segment of the concrete industry. Although 30 years old, the CWA should be acknowledged as being the first regulatory program to start this trend, as well as the primary one continuing to shape the environmental motivation of the concrete industry today.

FUTURE UNDER THE CWA

Where does this leave the concrete industry? According to many experts, the compliance level under the basic tenets of this now 30-year old body of regulations within the concrete industry is not as high as it should be (i.e., many concrete producers remain out of compliance with the CWA). This trend, if not countered, will continue to produce additional regulatory scrutiny of the industry, with additional regulation, fines, and penalties sure to follow. And, in today's regulatory climate, ever-greater financial penalties, as well as potential criminal penalties may be the direction of the future unless this trend is curtailed.

However, the concrete industry is moving towards the day when the entire industry can be recognized as meeting and exceeding the goals of the CWA, and one that operates in true harmony with the environment. Only at that time will the true impact of the CWA on the concrete industry be apparent.

Doug Ruhlin heads National Ready Mixed Concrete Association's Environmental Task Group and is President and Principal Environmental Consultant of Resource Management Associates, an environmental and operational consulting firm serving concrete producers across the U.S. Based in Forked River, N.J., the firm can be reached at 800/964-3250 or 609/693-8301.