Technical Bulletin No. 0724: Treatability of Selected RCRA-Regulated Compounds in Pulp and Paper Mill Wastewater Treatment Plants

The Land Disposal Restrictions (LDR) program, promulgated under RCRA, essentially prohibits the land disposal of hazardous waste unless it has been treated to standards representing the capabilities of Best Demonstrated Available Technology (BDAT). In the Phase III LDR Rules, EPA proposed rules for decharacterized wastewaters managed in Clean Water Act (CWA) treatment systems wherein end-of-pipe technology-based or water quality-based CWA standards would be used as RCRA LDR treatment standards. EPA observed, however, that a regulatory framework was still needed to ensure that hazardous constituents were being removed in CWA systems (a) to a degree comparable to BDAT treatment, and (b) by mechanisms other than dilution or partitioning to other environmental media.