U.S. EPA Finalizes Water Intake Rules for Power Plants

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) (Washington D.C.), has finalized standards under the Clean Water Act that require the cooling water intake systems of many power plants to use the best available technology to lessen harm to fish and other aquatic life. The EPA's 316 (b) standards apply to power plants that use more than 2 million gallons per day, and use at least 25% of their water intake exclusively for cooling.

The rule covers roughly 1,065 existing facilities, including 544 power plants and 521 factories, according to the EPA.

Industrial Info is tracking eight cooling water system upgrade projects valued at more than $373 million in North America.

Cooling water intake systems at power plants can harm fish and shellfish through heat, pressure, mechanical stress or chemical changes, including deaths from impingement and entrainment.

Cooling water intake by power plants removes and kills hundreds of billions of aquatic organisms each year in U.S. waters, including plankton, fish, crustaceans, shellfish, turtles and marine mammals.

The finalized ruling is intended to regulate existing and new facilities equipped with once-through cooling systems that draw water from rivers, lakes, ponds, reservoirs or the ocean.

The EPA also proposed some options for power plants to lessen environmental harm to aquatic life. Existing facilities are required to comply with one of the following alternatives:

• Operate a closed-cycle recirculating cooling water system
• Operate a cooling water intake structure that has a maximum through-screen design intake velocity of 0.5 feet per second
• Operate a cooling water intake structure that has a maximum through-screen intake velocity of 0.5 feet per second
• Operate an offshore velocity cap, as defined by the ruling that is installed before its effective date
• Operate a modified traveling screen that meets the definition of and is the best technology available for impingement reduction.
• Operate any other combination of technologies, management practices and operational measures that is determined to be the best technology available for impingement reduction.
• Achieve the specified impingement mortality performance standard.

Additionally, electric utilities are reusing and conserving water, including effluent, storm water, gray water, wastewater and saline water, to reduce the consumption of fresh water.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, three offices in North America and 10 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.