The Delaware River Basin Commission this week unanimously adopted a rule to establish pollutant minimization plan requirements for point and non-point discharges of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the Delaware Estuary. It also set a goal of reducing PCB loadings by 50 percent in five years.

In December 2003, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency established Stage 1 Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) for PCBs in the tidal Delaware River between Trenton, N.J. and the Delaware Bay under a court-mandated deadline based on several years of technical work conducted by the DRBC. A TMDL sets the maximum amount of a pollutant that a water body can receive without violating applicable water quality standards and allocates that amount among sources in the watershed -- both point (end-of-pipe) and non-point (runoff). Dischargers must reduce loads to the allocated levels in order to achieve and maintain the standards.

Under the rule adopted this week, dischargers will identify known and potential sources of PCBs, identify procedures for tracking down unknown sources of the pollutant, and identify and implement strategies for minimizing or preventing releases from all identified sources. Dischargers will measure and periodically report progress made in reducing loadings. Initially, 60 point source dischargers will be required to develop and implement PMPs and to monitor their PCB discharges.

In light of the importance of contributions of PCB pollution from non-point sources, the rule allows the commission to require PMPs for contaminated sites where releases from the sites are not being addressed entirely through other state or federal regulatory programs.

The commissioners provided that a peer review advisory committee will be established to evaluate the PMPs and advise regulators on their anticipated effectiveness. The committee also will provide advice on additional measures that may be practicable.

PCBs, which have been classified by EPA as a probable human carcinogen, are present in the waters of the Delaware Estuary at concentrations 1,000 times higher than the water quality criteria. The U.S. banned the manufacture and general use of PCBs in the late 1970s, but not before 1.5 billion pounds of the substance was produced. PCBs were used as coolants and lubricants in transformers, capacitors, and other electrical equipment because they don't burn easily and are good insulators.

For more information, visit the DRBC’s pollutant minimization plan resolution.

5/27/2005