Sewage plant meets high standards

Westchester County’s wastewater treatment plant in Yonkers has become the first such plant in the state to obtain the prestigious certification to the ISO 14001 Environmental Management System Standard.

The designation means that the environmental management system of the plant meets internationally recognized standards. The county intends ultimately that the entire Department of Environmental Facilities (DEF), which operates all of the county’s seven wastewater treatments plants, pumping stations, trunk sewers, the solid waste district and three water districts, will be certified as well. (Previously, the Westchester County Airport became one of just a few airports in the country to be so certified.)

“We hold our sewage treatment plants to a high standard,” said County Executive Andy Spano. “This important recognition means we have in place the system to make sure that we do everything possible to continually improve plant management to protect the environment.”
In addition to the wastewater treatment plants and sewer and solid waste districts, the department operates 42 pump stations, two overflow retention facilities, 20 storm flow regulating chambers and about 194 miles of trunk sewers. The Yonkers Joint Wastewater Treatment Plant is the largest of those managed by DEF with the largest workforce and the greatest operational complexity. Consequently, the Yonkers plant was chosen as the first facility for development and implementation of the ISO 14001 environmental management system. The county intends to obtain certification of the remaining six wastewater treatment plants in 2007 and of the entire department in 2008.

ISO - or the International Organization for Standardization - is a non-governmental organization, with representatives from 157 countries. ISO develops standards for both quality and environmental management systems. The ISO 14001 standard, finalized in 2004, is centered around the “plan-do-check-act cycle of continual environmental improvement.” Soon thereafter, the county airport became only the 3rd airport in the nation to have its environmental management system certified to have met this internationally recognized standard.

To obtain certification, an organization must commit to complying with all applicable legal requirements aimed at preventing pollution and to constantly improving its environmental work. The ISO 14001 standard is recognized by government organizations, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, as well as corporate and environmental organizations worldwide, as an effective method to improve an organization’s environmental performance.

For the Department of Environmental Facilities, the effort to develop and implement its Environmental Management System (EnvMS) began in August 2004 with the adoption of an environmental policy and development of procedures to meet the ISO 14001 requirements. As part of the resulting improvements to environmental performance at the Yonkers Joint Wastewater Treatment Plant, this year’s objectives are the following:

- Reduce the potential impact to the surrounding neighborhoods by improving odor collection systems and improving treatment equipment,
- Reduce potable water usage by recycling treated water and using it for process cleanup,
- Reduce potential impact of process upsets on soil by adding overflow protection to equipment,
- Reduce Yonkers Joint sludge production through use of innovative treatment techniques,
- Reduce air emissions by installing new high-efficiency burners and new boilers,
- Remove mercury-containing devices from the Yonkers plant,
- Recognize outstanding environ- mental performance of contractors working at the plant.