Current through all regulations passed and filed through March 18, 2024
This rule applies to all public water systems
receiving water from a surface water source
except consecutive water systems.
(A) A public water system shall develop and
submit to the director written treatment optimization protocols
for harmful algal blooms. The protocols shall
be in a
form that is acceptable to the director and include detailed information on the
public water system, water sources, existing treatment processes with
schematic, and treatment adjustments that will be made under various raw
and finished water conditions. In developing the protocols, the public water
system shall review and optimize existing treatment for microcystins,
considering effective strategies for cyanotoxin treatment such as avoiding
lysing cyanobacterial cells, optimizing removal of intact cells, optimizing
barriers for extracellular cyanotoxin removal or destruction, optimizing sludge
removal and discontinuing or minimizing backwash recycling.
(1)
The treatment optimization protocols shall be
submitted to the director within thirty days of the
intial detection of microcystins in raw or finished water sampling
points.
(2)
If a public water system was not required to submit written treatment
optimization protocols under paragraph (A)(1) of this rule,
treatment optimization protocols shall be submitted to the
director within six months of the effective date of this rule.
(3)
New public water
systems shall submit treatment optimization protocols within one year from
activation unless otherwise required by paragraph (A)(1) of this
rule.
(4)
The treatment optimization protocols required by this
chapter shall be reviewed and updated as necessary, but at least annually, and
made available to Ohio EPA upon request.
(5)
Treatment
optimization protocols shall be submitted to the director for review within
thirty days of substantial change to the protocol or substantial change to
treatment or source water as defined in rule 3745-91-01 of the Administrative
Code.
(6)
In the event the treatment optimization protocols are
deemed inadequate or incomplete by Ohio EPA, the public water system shall
revise the protocol in accordance with a schedule acceptable to the
director.
(B) A
public water system shall comply with all of the following when monitoring
conducted in accordance with rule
3745-90-03
of the Administrative Code indicates microcystins concentrations exceed 1.6
micrograms per liter in a sample collected at the raw water sampling point more
than once within a consecutive twelve-month period, or when microcystins are
detected in a sample collected at a finished water sampling point or a
distribution sampling point:
(1) Within one
hundred and twenty days, the public water system shall submit
an
approvable cyanotoxin general plan to the director for approval in
accordance with paragraph (C) of rule
3745-91-02
of the Administrative Code. The cyanotoxin general plan shall include both
short-term and long-term actions to prevent exceedances of the microcystins
action levels established in paragraph (A)(1) or (A)(2) of rule
3745-90-02
of the Administrative Code in finished water. The cyanotoxin general plan may
include one or a combination of source water protection activities, avoidance
strategies, reservoir management and in-plant treatment technologies. The
cyanotoxin general plan shall include a schedule for implementation or a
demonstration that existing practices are sufficient to prevent exceedances of
the microcystins action levels established in paragraph (A)(1) or (A)(2) of
rule
3745-90-02
of the Administrative Code in finished water. The cyanotoxin general plan may
be approved by the director with or without conditions or disapproved in
accordance with the provisions of Chapter 3745-91 of the Administrative
Code.
(2)
The public water system shall respond to and address
comments from Ohio EPA regarding the cyanotoxin general plan within thirty days
of the comment date or other schedule provided by the director.
(3)
Implement the approved cyanotoxin general plan in accordance with the approved
schedule for substantial or required components of the
plan.
(4) Continue to monitor
for microcystins in accordance with rule
3745-90-03
of the Administrative Code to demonstrate treatment effectiveness.
(C) If the system does not comply
with paragraph (B)(3) of this rule, the public water system is in
violation of the treatment technique requirements of this rule and shall issue
tier 2 public notification in accordance with rule
3745-81-32 of
the Administrative Code using the standard health effects language in paragraph
(C) of rule
3745-90-06
of the Administrative Code.
(D)
Written treatment protocols and cyanotoxin general plans submitted under
paragraphs (A) and (B) of this rule are not public records pursuant to section
149.433
of the Revised Code.
