EPA adds 248 Shops to Survey List for Total of 2,034

An additional 248 finishing operations have been added to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency list of shops they will survey in the coming months on the use of PFAS in their wastewater treatment system.

This week the EPA added 248 shops — while also removing 28 others — from the list it will send a 74-question survey, bringing the total number of shops required to participate in the survey and possible inspections to 2,034.

“As currently designed, the questionnaire will be administered as a census to all facilities in the chromium finishing industry profile,” the EPA says in the survey notes. “EPA prepared the questionnaire to be applicable to a variety of facilities; therefore, not all questions will apply to every company or facility.”

The EPA says it has not established national technology-based numeric standards for PFAS in wastewater discharges for any industrial point source categories, and few states have developed water quality standards for PFAS. 

“Therefore, few industrial facilities have PFAS monitoring requirements, effluent limitations, or pretreatment standards for wastewater discharges,” the agency says. “EPA plans to revise the Metal Finishing Point Source Category ELGs (codified at 40 CFR Part 433) and Electroplating Point Source Category ELGs (codified at 40 CFR Part 413) to address PFAS and other pollutants in wastewater discharges from chromium finishing facilities.”

The EPA estimates that it will take each shop 7.6 hours to complete the survey online and that the cost to each shop will be just over $1,000 in costs, such as personnel time and other reporting expenses.

Comments on the updated survey and the list must be submitted to the EPA before May 22. Visit https://www.regulations.gov/docket/EPA-HQ-OW-2022-0869 to review how to comment on the survey.

The survey the EPA plans to use — called “Information Collection Request for the Metal Finishing and Electroplating Industry” — is broken into nine specific parts:

• Section 1: General Facility Information
• Section 2: Facility Operations and Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) Use 
• Section 3: Wastewater Generation
• Section 4: Wastewater Flow Diagram
• Section 5: Wastewater Management and Treatment
• Section 6: Permit Requirements and Monitoring Data
• Section 7: Environmental and Other Information
• Section 8: Financial Information
• Section 9: Comments

When the survey is approved and sent to finishers, they will have 60 days to complete the questionnaire.

The EPA says the rulemaking is to address PFAS discharges from a subset of facilities in the metal finishing and electroplating point source categories.

New Shops Add to List April 2023

 All Shops on EPA Survey List (2,034)