Permitting Pollution: An Assessment of the Rhode Island Implementation of the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System

Catherine Goodall

This study assesses the effectiveness of the Rhode Island implementation of the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, or RIPDES, by examining permits, numeric violations, consent agreements, parameters of the discharges of violators and by facilities under consent agreements, and the water quality of receiving waters. Data from the EPA's Permit Compliance System (PCS) from 1994-1998 were included in the analysis. The study did not include pretreatment data. While absolute numbers of numeric violations have risen moderately during the period from 1994 to 1998, the frequency of violations relative to reporting instances has risen only slightly. Between 1994 and 1997, the violations were highly concentrated (76.5%) among approximately one-quarter (30) of the facilities; in 1998 the top facilities accounted for only 54.2% of numeric violations. These violations occurred almost entirely among minor facilities and for the following parameters: pH, pH change, temperature, flow, and total suspended solids. More significant are the 15 major municipal and industrial facilities discharging under consent agreements. These facilities have had water quality-based permits since 1989 but have not yet made the changes to their plants and pretreatment programs necessary to achieve compliance with these limits. Twelve of these facilities discharge to impaired waters according to the 1998 303(d) List of Impaired Waters. Seven of the 15 facilities with interim metals limits discharge to bodies of water for which the 303(d) lists metals as a cause of impairment. These facilities have been the cause of excess loading for 9 years and should be prioritized for compliance schedule enforcement/fulfillment. Other facilities that discharge to impaired waters should receive second priority for enforcement. Limiting factors in the efficiency of compliance schedule implementation include DEM staff resources and the cost of improvements to municipal treatment facilities. These issues need to be resolved, and federal funding could reduce political obstacles to doing so. Increased enforcement of pretreatment programs and may help municipal facilities avoid violations. Additionally, an overhaul of PCS is necessary. Protocols for data entry need to be revised and standardized in order to facilitate information retrieval. The handling of facilities with compliance schedules by PCS is misleading because the facilities appear to be in compliance with water quality-based effluent limits when, in fact, they are not. Documentation of PCS is insufficient, which renders the system essentially inaccessible to most citizens seeking information about NPDES.