I journeyed south to San Diego last week to attend the
Municipal Waste Managers Association’s 2008 Fall Summit. The association is an
adjunct of the US Conference of Mayors designed to keep its
members up to date on waste management trends and issues, and in the wake of the
conference I’m able to confirm the excellence of its performance in this
regard.
While all presentations were timely and of high quality, one
was of singular importance: Susan Thorneloe’s introduction of EPA's Suite of
Homeland Security Decision Support Tools For Managing Disaster-Generated Waste
and Debris, outlining a single comprehensive approach to domestic
incident management. The program was established by the Department of Homeland
Security through the National Response Framework to help prevent, prepare for,
respond to, and recover from terrorist attacks. major disasters, and other
emergencies.
The US EPA's National Homeland Security
Research Center in partnership with other U.S. government agencies, EPA program
offices, industry, and state and local emergency response programs has developed
a suite of decision support tools (DSTs). The following are excepts from the
presentation explaining the program and how to make use of its
features:
Safe and timely disposal of
disaster-generated waste and debris is critical to helping restore a community
or region and prevent further contamination or spread of disease. The suite of
DSTs developed provides quick and easy access to information needed for making
decisions associated with handling, transport, and disposal of waste and
disaster debris. The DSTs provide location-specific information to identify
specific facilities and contacts for managing waste and debris. The DSTs provide
references to technical information, regulations, and other information that is
important for the protection of public health, first responders, and the
environment. This paper provides an overview of the suite of DSTs and examples
of recent applications in planning and use in emergency
response.
The objective of the
suite of Homeland Security DSTs for waste and disaster debris management and
disposal is to help reduce restoration time by providing a stepwise approach in
the decision making process for disaster debris management.
Information
contained within or accessible through the DSTs
includes:
* Estimators
for disposal waste and debris quantities and
characteristics;
* Databases of disposal facilities including
contact information and capacity for the different categories of
disaster-generated waste and disposal debris on a geographical basis. Disposal
facilities that are provided include combustion facilities (hazardous waste
incinerators and waste-to-energy combustors), landfills (hazardous waste,
municipal waste, and construction and demolition debris), medical waste
autoclaves, and industrial boilers. For natural disasters where material may be
recovered for reuse, contacts are provided for facilitating materials
recovery.
* Information
about on-site preprocessing to make the material more amenable for disposal in a
given facility;
* Information on packaging to minimize risk to
workers handling the waste and disposal debris, to the disposal facility
workers, and to people along the transportation route to the disposal facility,
and to minimize potential for contaminating the disposal
facility;
* Information related to transporting
disaster-generated waste and debris including links
to relevant packaging regulations, guidance on performance requirements for
containers, and possible suppliers of hazardous material transport
containers;
* Information
on characteristics of residues formed during the incineration process and
requirements for their safe disposal;
* Information on fate and transport of these
materials in a landfill environment;
* Information on permit implications for
facilities disposing of these materials;
* A library of resources to assist in
the decision making process; and
Methodology
for calculating order of magnitude estimates of potential disposal
costs.
The DSTs enable
users to create a decision scenario and save it for later reference or revision.
Each user has a unique user ID and password based on four different user groups:
(1) EPA and other federal agencies; (2) State and local agencies; (3) other
(e.g., industry, trade associations, contractors); and (4) general public. The
user can share scenarios or limit access. To create a scenario, a user specifies
the incident location and the type and characteristics of waste material. The
user follows a stepwise approach to determine the quantity and inventory of
waste materials, potential disposal facilities, and transport
options.
In conclusion,
Thorneloe pointed out that …
The use of the DSTs will provide decision
makers information that is location-specific and contact information for
disposal facility options and obtaining appropriate permits. Guidance is also
provided for handling and transportation that is specific to the different types
of disasters and contaminants. Outputs from the tool such as waste profiles and
characterization information can be shared with facilities and transportation
companies. The DSTs are being used in planning exercises as required by the NRF.
The DSTs are also being used in responding to events of national significance
such as the wild fires that occurred in San Diego in 2007. The DSTs are not
intended to override existing regulatory or legal requirements that apply to
waste and disaster debris handling, transport, or
disposal.
For further information on the DSTs, please
contact Susan Thorneloe of EPA’s Office of Research and Development,
National Risk Management Research Laboratory, at Research Triangle Park, NC (thorneloe.susan@epamail.epa.gov)