Portable Sanitation Association International

WEEKLY EDITION October 26, 2016 Portable Sanitation and the EPA Part II Facing "new" EPA guidelines. When interacting with contractors and inspectors, it is common for a PRO to feel caug ht off guard when suddenly told of a requirement that they haven't previously encountered. Whether this is as simple as a customer's adamant requests that the PRO provide containment pans or that they stake all units down, if the operator has not been inst ructed to do so "by requirement" in the past, red flags will rise and they'll oftentimes turn to the PSAI with concern. These new claims tend to come from a customer's knowledge of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requirements – or lack there of. EPA requirements are commonly misconstrued for a few reasons, which can result in misled customers and confused PROs. In this article, we will highlight how and why the rules in place are misinterpreted, how this can affect your job sites, and what you can do to appease your customer while saving you both money. EPA requirements versus local recommendations. First, it's important to understand that EPA, at the federal level, does not actually make requirements for the portable sanitation industry. Instead, the EPA mandates that every state have a plan for avoiding pollution that exceeds federal limits on the construction job site. What matters here is actually how your state or local law upholds EPA guidelines. In fact, most of the time, portable toilet gui delines as they apply to construction sites are few and simple. As the EPA allows their guiding principles to be interpreted by states , each state tends to also create rules for implementation that are left intentionally vague to allow for inventiveness. H ow rules are mandated locally will greatly depend on what suits local job sites, companies, weather conditions, and regions of interest – both the EPA and state legislation understand this. How this freedom leads to confusion. Because of the intentional room for interpretation, much of the responsibility for an up - to - code jobsite falls on the contractor. Under EPA's Clean Water Act, contractors are required to create and submit a Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP) to their state - level agency wh en they apply for a Construction General Permit. In this document, the contractor must identify the sources of pollutants that will create contaminated storm water run - off at the construction site. Along with the SWPPP, they must also develop a plan or han dbook entitled "Best Management Practices (BMPs)" which highlights a schedule of activities, prohibition of practices, maintenance procedures, and other management processes that are intended to prevent or reduce the possibility of water pollution at the j ob site. And considering that OSHA requires portable restrooms on construction sites, your portable units will factor into a contractor's SWPPP and BMP. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

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