Increasing Regulations Result in Decreasing Operational Efficiency

1994 ◽  
Vol 29 (8) ◽  
pp. 149-152
Author(s):  
Charles W. Ganze ◽  
Richard L. Brown
Keyword(s):  
Cost Effectiveness ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Clean Water Act ◽  
Gulf Coast ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
The United States ◽  
The State ◽  
Clean Water ◽  
Aquatic Life ◽  
Wastewater Disposal

In 1972, the Congress of the United States of America passed major legislation called the Clean Water Act, which required all wastewater discharges to meet minimal standards. The Clean Water Act promoted efficiency and cost effectiveness. The Gulf Coast Waste Disposal Authority was created in 1969 by the Legislature of the State of Texas to, among other things, own and operate wastewater disposal systems which would be protective of public health, “terrestrial and aquatic life, the operation of existing industries and the economic development of the state“. Since enactment of the Clean Water Act, other pieces of legislation, rulings by courts of law, and rules established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have thwarted many efforts to operate efficient and cost-effective wastewater treatment facilities. This paper will discuss several of the laws and rules that have discouraged efficiency and cost effectiveness.

scholarly journals Picking Up Where the TMDL Leaves Off: Using the Partnership Wild and Scenic River Framework for Collaborative River Restoration

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 1878
Author(s):  
Alan R. Hunt ◽  
Meiyin Wu ◽  
Tsung-Ta David Hsu ◽  
Nancy Roberts-Lawler ◽  
Jessica Miller ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Bacterial Contamination ◽  
Resource Constraints ◽  
Clean Water Act ◽  
The United States ◽  
Clean Water ◽  
Private Land ◽  
The Public ◽  
Wild And Scenic Rivers

The National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act protects less than ¼ of a percent of the United States’ river miles, focusing on free-flowing rivers of good water quality with outstandingly remarkable values for recreation, scenery, and other unique river attributes. It predates the enactment of the Clean Water Act, yet includes a clear anti-degradation principle, that pollution should be reduced and eliminated on designated rivers, in cooperation with the federal Environmental Protection Agency and state pollution control agencies. However, the federal Clean Water Act lacks a clear management framework for implementing restoration activities to reduce non-point source pollution, of which bacterial contamination impacts nearly 40% of the Wild and Scenic Rivers. A case study of the Musconetcong River, in rural mountainous New Jersey, indicates that the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act can be utilized to mobilize and align non-governmental, governmental, philanthropic, and private land-owner resources for restoring river water quality. For example, coordinated restoration efforts on one tributary reduced bacterial contamination by 95%, surpassing the TMDL goal of a 93% reduction. Stakeholder interviews and focus groups indicated widespread knowledge and motivation to improve water quality, but resource constraints limited the scale and scope of restoration efforts. The authors postulate that the Partnership framework, enabled in the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, facilitated neo-endogenous rural development through improving water quality for recreational usage, whereby bottom-up restoration activities were catalyzed via federal designation and resource provision. However, further efforts to address water quality via voluntary participatory frameworks were ultimately limited by the public sector’s inadequate funding and inaction with regard to water and wildlife resources in the public trust.

Environmental Protection in the United States Pulp, Paper, and Paperboard Industry: An Overview of Regulation of Wastewater Under the U.S. Clean Water Act

1988 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca W. Hanmer
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Environmental Protection ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Clean Water Act ◽  
Paper Industry ◽  
Oxygen Demand ◽  
The United States ◽  
Pulp And Paper ◽  
Clean Water ◽  
Pulp Paper

The pulp, paper, and paperboard industry in the United States is the larqest industrial user of water with half of the facilities discharging wastewater directly to our Nation's waters. The major pollutants of concern have historically been the conventional pollutants: biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5), total suspended solids (TSS), and pH. Biological treatment systems are currently employed to reduce these pollutants. Sludges generated by these treatment systems have been categorized as nonhazardous and are generally landfilled. Under the Clean Water Act, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has promulgated all the reguired regulations for this industry. The national regulations are applied to individual pulp and paper mills through permits issued by EPA Regional or State staff. Permit limits can be written that are more restrictive than the national regulations to protect local water guality. In its current projects concerning the pulp and paper industry, EPA is focusing on the reduction of toxic pollutants. The Agency is conducting a joint EPA/industry program to study dioxin discharges at bleached kraft mills. The Agency will also undertake a comprehensive review of the pulp and paper regulations in 1988.

Developments in Legislation Related to Treatment of Petroleum Refinery Effluents: A U.S. Overview

1989 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 355-362 ◽  
Author(s):  
Genevieve Laffly
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Clean Water Act ◽  
The United States ◽  
Point Sources ◽  
Clean Water ◽  
Regulatory Requirements ◽  
Federal Water Pollution Control ◽  
Guidelines And Standards ◽  
Pollutant Discharge ◽  
Wastewater Pollutants

Abstract Regulatory requirements in the United States controlling wastewater pollutants and toxicity resulting from point sources, such as refineries, emanated from passage of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act in 1972 and its subsequent amendments, collectively referred to as the Clean Water Act. The Clean Water Act empowers in the federal U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and states to issue effluents limitation guidelines and water quality standards to point sources that discharge pollutants directly to surface waters. These guidelines and standards are contained in permits issued under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System. The current regulatory emphasis on toxics probably will lead to more stringent pretreatment standards and reduced refinery wastewater flow.

Restoration of Physical Integrity of Rivers

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lina E. Polvi ◽  
Daniel W. Baker
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Dynamic Equilibrium ◽  
Clean Water Act ◽  
The United States ◽  
Biological Integrity ◽  
Clean Water ◽  
Physical Processes ◽  
Physical Integrity

Physical integrity for rivers refers to a set of active fluvial processes and landforms wherein the channel, floodplain, sediment, and overall spatial configuration maintain a dynamic equilibrium, according to Graf 2001 (cited under Components of Physical Integrity). Physical integrity is achieved when river processes and forms maintain active connections with each other in the present hydrologic regime. The term “physical integrity” was first used in an important piece of legislation in the United States of America, the Clean Water Act of 1977, in which it is stipulated that the nation must restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation’s water. Within the Environmental Protection Agency, the governmental agency charged with carrying out and enforcing the Clean Water Act, and the scientific literature, much of the focus has been on the chemical and biological integrity, with less direct focus on how to restore physical integrity. However, in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, there has been a greater scientific focus on restoration of physical forms and processes in rivers. Restoration of physical integrity encompasses several aspects: reducing fragmentation, ensuring functional physical processes and equilibrium, allowing dynamic processes, and matching restoration to geographic large-scale controls. In practice, restoration of physical integrity can be divided into two main categories—those focused on restoring form by increasing physical heterogeneity or creating a specific planform (e.g., meandering) or bedform (e.g., pool-riffles), and those focused on restoring processes, including sediment transport, flow retention, and flooding in order to maintain forms. Form-based restoration is usually rooted in the assumption that a reference condition can elucidate the forms that best match the processes under similar hydrologic and sediment regimes. Reference conditions can either be historical (i.e., where there is sufficient data on previous channel conditions before the degradation occurred) or geographical—where there is an undisturbed stream reach within the same region with similar climatic, hydrological, geological, and land-use conditions and the reference and degraded reaches have similar drainage areas and valley characteristics (in terms of valley slope and with and hillslope conditions). In addition, process-based restoration goals based on ecosystem functioning or channel classification schemes can be used in designing channel restoration. In areas where the flow regime is heavily altered, by for example dams, flow diversions or land-use conditions, environmental or functional flows have been used to determine which flows (e.g., five-year flood) are necessary to maintain certain physical processes or forms.

The Third Option for Meeting 316(b) Requirements

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles F. Bowman
Keyword(s):  
Flow Rate ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Clean Water Act ◽  
Operating Cost ◽  
The United States ◽  
Plant Performance ◽  
Clean Water ◽  
Aquatic Life ◽  
Circulating Water ◽  
Surface Areas

Section 316(b) of the Clean Water Act requires plants with intake flows of over 2 million gallons of water per day taken from the waters of the United States to implement the “best available” technology to reduce injury and death of fish and other aquatic life that may be impinged on or entrained in the intake. The two options commonly identified to address 316(b) are closed cycle cooling and fish screens. A third option that is often overlooked and may be less expansive is to implement changes in the plant, allowing it to operate with less condenser circulating water (CCW) flow. Most CCW systems of power plants were originally designed to achieve an economic optimum balance between capital cost and the operating benefit of a lower main condenser (MC) pressure with the resulting increased electrical output. For those plants that are located on rivers, lakes, and oceans where CCW was abundant and free, economics often dictated high CCW flows impelled by low-head pumps and MC’s designed with minimal surface areas, as larger MC’s were not justified on the basis of economics. The passage of Section 316(b) of the Clean Water Act suggests a new look at the existing CCW system design for many plants with the goal of reducing the required CCW flow rate. In some instances simply reducing the CCW flow rate may be sufficient to meet 316(b) requirements. In other cases, the reduction of CCW flow may significantly reduce the capital and operating cost of adding cooling towers and/or fish screens. This paper investigates ways to reduce the required CCW flow to existing power plants by redesigning and modifying the existing CCW system based on current technology. The result could be a new, improved, MC and other turbine cycle equipment and perhaps new CCW pumps, resulting in the same or better plant performance. The paper presents case studies in which the CCW systems for two power plants are redesigned to reduce the CCW flow.

Coverage of Non-Metals in the ASME B31.3 Chemical Plant and Petroleum Refinery Piping Code

1992 ◽  
Vol 206 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-72
Author(s):  
W E Short II
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Petroleum Refinery ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
The United States ◽  
Chemical Plant ◽  
Area Of Interest ◽  
Plastic Materials ◽  
Cost Effective Alternative ◽  
Dramatic Growth

The chemical and petrochemical industries have decades of experience in specifying metallic piping lined with non-metals as a cost effective alternative to high-priced alloy materials of construction for piping in corrosive service. Early on, application of plastic piping was essentially limited to atmospheric chemical sewage service and to above-ground vents and drains. However, applications and usage of plastic piping continue to increase as engineers become more confident in specifying plastic materials and mechanical contractors gain experience with their installation. Non-metallic materials are being developed that are not only corrosion resistant but also have increasingly higher pressure and temperature capabilities. Plastic double-containment piping has experienced tremendous growth for handling hazards and toxic fluids. In the United States, recent dramatic growth of plastic double-containment piping applications has been, to a large extent, for compliance with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations of the 1976 Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). Related EPA regulatory efforts were accelerated in 1988 by more stringent amendments to this legislation. Industry in the United States must comply with these EPA regulations by December 1998. Plastic piping and metallic piping lined with non-metals have been covered to some extent by the ASME B31.3 Chemical Plant and Petroleum Refinery Piping Code for several years. The distinctive requirements of non-metallic piping and piping lined with non-metals were incorporated into the 1980 edition as a separate Chapter VII, which is dedicated to this growing area of interest in piping. This paper provides an overview of the present coverage of non-metallic piping lined with non-metals in the ASME B31.3 Chemical Plant and Petroleum Refinery Piping Code (1). Some topics that warrant further investigation are presented as well.

Abstract 200: Cost-Effectiveness of Newer Anticoagulants for Stroke Prevention in Atrial Fibrillation

2013 ◽  
Vol 6 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Brendan L Limone ◽  
William L Baker ◽  
Craig I Coleman
Keyword(s):  
Atrial Fibrillation ◽  
Cost Effectiveness ◽  
Stroke Prevention ◽  
Indirect Comparison ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
The United States ◽  
Base Case ◽  
Treatment Comparison ◽  
Newer Anticoagulants ◽  
The Cost

Background: A number of new anticoagulants for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation (SPAF) have gained regulatory approval or are in late-stage development. We sought to conduct a systematic review of economic models of dabigatran, rivaroxaban and apixaban for SPAF. Methods: We searched the Medline, Embase, National Health Service Economic Evaluation Database and Health Technology Assessment database along with the Tuft’s Registry through October 10, 2012. Included models assessed the cost-effectiveness of dabigatran (150mg, 110mg, sequential), rivaroxaban or apixaban for SPAF using a Markov model or discrete event simulation and were published in English. Results: Eighteen models were identified. All models utilized a lone randomized trial (or an indirect comparison utilizing a single study for any given direct comparison), and these trials were clinically and methodologically heterogeneous. Dabigatran 150mg was assessed in 9 of models, dabigatran 110mg in 8, sequential dabigatran in 9, rivaroxaban in 4 and apixaban in 4. Adjusted-dose warfarin (either trial-like, real-world prescribing or genotype-dosed) was a potential first-line therapy in 94% of models. Models were conducted from the perspective of the United States (44%), European countries (39%) and Canada (17%). In base-case analyses, patients typically were at moderate-risk of ischemic stroke, initiated anticoagulation between 65 and 73 years of age, and were followed for or near a lifetime. All models reported cost/quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) gained, and while 22% of models reported using a societal perspective, no model included costs of lost productivity. Four models reported an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) for a newer anticoagulant (dabigatran 110mg (n=4)/150mg (n=2); rivaroxaban (n=1)) vs. warfarin above commonly reported willingness-to-pay thresholds. ICERs (in 2012US$) vs. warfarin ranged from $3,547-$86,000 for dabigatran 150mg, $20,713-$150,000 for dabigatran 110mg, $4,084-$21,466 for sequentially-dosed dabigatran and $23,065-$57,470 for rivaroxaban. In addition, apixaban was demonstrated to be an economically dominant strategy compared to aspirin and to be dominant or cost-effective ($11,400-$25,059) vs. warfarin. Based on separate indirect treatment comparison meta-analyses, 3 models compared the cost-effectiveness of these new agents and reported conflicting results. Conclusions: Cost-effectiveness models of newer anticoagulants for SPAF have been extensively published. Models have frequently found newer anticoagulants to be cost-effective, but due to the lack of head-to-head trial comparisons and heterogeneity in clinical characteristic of underlying trials and modeling methods, it is currently unclear which of these newer agents is most cost-effective.

A Compaction-Granulation Process Turns Municipal Sludge into a Valuable Fertilizer Component

1990 ◽  
Vol 22 (12) ◽  
pp. 239-247
Author(s):  
Philip Wolstenholme
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
The United States ◽  
West Germany ◽  
Municipal Sludge ◽  
Protection Agency ◽  
Digested Sludge ◽  
Granulation Process ◽  
Planning And Design

To prepare dried municipal sludge material for use by the fertilizer industry, Ocean County Utilities Authority, New Jersey needed a process to increase the size of their sludge particles to between 1 and 3 millimetres. Several processes were evaluated during the planning and design phases of the project. The most cost-effective and reliable process was pressure agglomeration by compaction with a roll press, followed by granulation and screening of the compacted material. This process was tested with a sample of the Authority's digested sludge, which had been dried in a laboratory-scale evaporator. Fullscale compaction and granulation test equipment was used at a laboratory in West Germany to confirm the feasibility of the process and to develop data for the design of the project. As a result of its “innovative” approach to sludge processing, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) qualified this $60 million project for special funding. The project is nearing construction completion and due to be commissioned in spring of 1990.

Cost-effectiveness of digital cognitive behavioral therapy (Sleepio) for insomnia: a Markov simulation model in the United States

SLEEP ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Darden ◽  
Colin A Espie ◽  
Jenna R Carl ◽  
Alasdair L Henry ◽  
Jennifer C Kanady ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Cost Effectiveness ◽  
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy ◽  
Behavioral Therapy ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
The United States ◽  
Cognitive Behavioral ◽  
Life Years ◽  
Insomnia Treatment ◽  
Group Cbt

Abstract Study Objectives To examine the cost-effectiveness and potential net monetary benefit (NMB) of a fully automated digital cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) intervention for insomnia compared with no insomnia treatment in the United States (US). Similar relative comparisons were made for pharmacotherapy and clinician-delivered CBT (individual and group). Methods We simulated a Markov model of 100,000 individuals using parameters calibrated from the literature including direct (treatment) and indirect costs (e.g. insomnia-related healthcare expenditure and lost workplace productivity). Health utility estimates were converted into quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) and one QALY was worth $50,000. Simulated individuals were randomized equally to one of five arms (digital CBT, pharmacotherapy, individual CBT, group CBT, or no insomnia treatment). Sensitivity was assessed by bootstrapping the calibrated parameters. Cost estimates were expressed in 2019 US dollars. Results Digital CBT was cost beneficial when compared with no insomnia treatment and had a positive NMB of $681.06 (per individual over 6 months). Bootstrap sensitivity analysis demonstrated that the NMB was positive in 94.7% of simulations. Relative to other insomnia treatments, digital CBT was the most cost-effective treatment because it generated the smallest incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (−$3,124.73). Conclusions Digital CBT was the most cost-effective insomnia treatment followed by group CBT, pharmacotherapy, and individual CBT. It is financially prudent and beneficial from a societal perspective to utilize automated digital CBT to treat insomnia at a population scale.

scholarly journals The Cost-Effectiveness of Epilepsy Surgery and Surgical Evaluation in the United States

Neurosurgery ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 66 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shehryar R Sheikh ◽  
Michael P Steinmetz ◽  
Michael W Kattan ◽  
Mendel Singer ◽  
Belinda Udeh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Monte Carlo ◽  
Cost Effectiveness ◽  
Epilepsy Surgery ◽  
Medical Management ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
The United States ◽  
Effective Strategies ◽  
Surgical Evaluation ◽  
The Cost

Abstract INTRODUCTION Surgery is an effective treatment for many pharmacoresistant temporal lobe epilepsy patients, but incurs considerable cost. It is unknown whether surgery and surgical evaluation are cost-effective strategies in the United States. We aim to evaluate whether 1) surgery is cost-effective for patients who have been deemed surgical candidates when compared to continued medical management, 2) surgical evaluation is cost-effective for patients who have drug-resistant temporal epilepsy and may or may not ultimately be deemed surgical candidates METHODS We use a Monte Carlo simulation method to assess the cost-effectiveness of surgery and surgical evaluation over a lifetime horizon. Patients transition between two health states (‘seizure free’ and ‘having seizures’) as part of a Markov process, based on literature estimates. We adopt both healthcare and societal perspectives, including direct healthcare costs and indirect costs such as lost earnings by patients and care providers. We estimate variability of model predictions using probabilistic and deterministic sensitivity analyses. RESULTS 1) Epilepsy surgery is cost effective in surgically eligible patients by virtue of being cost saving and more effective than medical management in the long run, with 95% of 10 000 Monte Carlo simulations favoring surgery. From a societal perspective, surgery becomes cost effective within 3 yr. At 5 yr, surgery has an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) of $31,600, which is significantly below the societal willingness-to-pay (∼ $100,000/quality-adjusted life years (QALY)) and comparable to hip/knee arthroplasty. 2) Surgical evaluation is cost-effective in pharmacoresistant patients even if the probability of being deemed a surgical candidate is low (5%-10%). Even if the probability of surgical eligibility is only 10%, surgical referral has an ICER of $96,000/QALY, which is below societal willingness-to-pay. CONCLUSION Epilepsy surgery and surgical evaluation are both cost-effective strategies in the United States. Pharmacoresistant temporal lobe epilepsy patients should be referred for surgical evaluation without hesitation on cost-effectiveness grounds.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document