City of Gastonia Wastewater Treatment Division 1st Governmental Entity in NC certified to ISO 14001 Standard. (One of the top 5 Wastewater Treatment Plants in the Country)
As a part of the City of Gastonia Wastewater Treatment Division's efforts to be a good environmental steward and to strive for performance beyond compliance, the Division decided to become a ISO 14001 pilot program working with the State of North Carolina Division of Pollution Prevention and Environmental Assistance (NC DPPEA) (www.p2pays.org) in January, 1999. Becoming a pilot program meant that the Division must make every effort to develop and implement an Environmental Management System (EMS) using the ISO 14001 International Standard as a guide.
ISO 14001 is a voluntary standard that was developed by the International Organization for Standardization, (www.iso.org) which is a group of representatives from approximately 40 countries that work together to develop standards such as this one for EMS development and implementation.
This standard provides a framework for EMS development and is based on a Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) Model. In order for an EMS to be in conformance with the ISO 14001 standard it must adequately address all 17 elements of the standard which are: environmental policy; environmental aspects; legal and other requirements; objectives and targets; environmental management programs; structure and responsibility; training, awareness and competence; communication; EMS documentation; document control; operational controls; emergency preparedness and response; monitoring and measurement; nonconformance and corrective and preventive action; records; EMS audit; and Management Review.
The Division began development of its EMS in February 1999 by developing the environmental policy. This policy includes a commitment by the Division to pollution prevention, continual improvement, and compliance with all environmental laws and regulations. The initial policy was approved by City Council on March 16, 1999 and subsequently revised and approved again on April 3, 2001.
Following the implementation of the policy, the EMS development team began evaluating each activity of the Division for its environmental impact and/or potential of an environmental impact during normal and abnormal operating conditions (i.e. emissions to air, surface water, soils, use of natural resources, etc…). Due to the nature of the wastewater business most every activity the Division performs may have an impact on the environment which made for a very large initial list. Evaluating these activities included determining if the impact is significant and ranking the significant impacts in a prioritized manner to ensure that the Division's staff and monetary resources may be allocated to the appropriate areas to fulfill the commitments of the environmental policy.
Another step in the development of the EMS is the identification and listing of all relevant legal and other environmental requirements. The Division has compiled a complete listing of these requirements which helps in determining and tracking compliance and scheduling of time to complete the identified reporting requirements.
Communication, both internal and external, is also an element that must be addressed in an ISO 14001 EMS. The Division developed a Communication procedure to address each type of communication, trained all personnel on the procedure, and all external communication related to significant environmental aspects and impacts is reviewed by the Management Review Board quarterly.
Based on the environmental policy, the significant aspects, third party interests, financial and technological options, and identified current and future legal requirements, the Division developed environmental objectives and targets. These objectives and targets have associated improvement programs which provide a specific structure of who is responsible for each level of achievement and the means and time frame by which it is to be accomplished.
Other areas that have been particularly useful to the Division are the operational controls, monitoring and measuring, and the emergency preparedness and response elements of the standard. The standard requires that for every significant aspect and impact there be a documented method of controlling and monitoring and measuring it. Since the Division's business is environmental, this has resulted in the creation of hundreds of documented procedures. Each of these procedures details how to perform tasks, why it is important to the environment that the task be performed correctly, what could or would happen if it is not performed correctly, and that a corrective/preventative action report (C/PAR) must be completed if the employee is required to deviate from the procedure in order to complete the task. The Division also developed documented procedures to minimize and/or eliminate any environmental impacts during abnormal conditions such as main lift failure, high flow events, intermediate lift failure, etc…
The nonconformance and corrective and preventive action element has proved to be invaluable to the Division. This program requires a monthly meeting of management staff to review all C/PARs which details any deviations from procedures, suggestions by staff, noncompliance events, a root cause analysis of any problems, and corrective actions taken and/or proposed for each issue. This program allows the Management Staff to stay well informed of what is going on within the Division in order to make well informed decisions and it provides each employee an avenue to voice their opinions and to give suggestions on ways to improve the operation of the Division.
As procedures are written and implemented, personnel have been trained and this training has been evaluated to determine if more training is needed to sufficiently perform the tasks. All training and training sufficiency is documented per person per procedure on a training matrix.
Other elements of the standard such as the EMS documentation, document control, and records have also been addressed. The Division developed an EMS Manual which provides an overview of each element and gives direction to related EMS procedures and documents via name and document control number. The Division created a document control numbering system which allows Staff to easily identify what location the document relates to. The document control procedure also provides specific criteria a document must have in order to be controlled. A controlled document must be either on green paper, have a blue signature, or be located on the computer network U: drive. All other copies of a document are uncontrolled. All controlled procedures, forms and reference material are listed on a document control matrix where the locations of controlled copies are identified and records retention times along with document control and revision numbers.
There are two elements of the standard which provide for a check on all other elements. These two are the Internal EMS audits and Management Reviews. Internal audits are performed on each area of the Division semi-annually. These audits check items such as: staff is knowledgeable of their environmental policy and roles and responsibilities, procedures are in place and are being followed, training has occurred and been documented appropriately, c/pars have been developed for deviations and non-compliance events, progress is being made on objectives and targets, etc… Management Reviews are performed quarterly to review the significant environmental impacts, progress on objectives and targets, internal audits, external communication, and the continued suitability and adequacy of the EMS.
According to a third party audit conducted on May 23rd and June 7 and 8, 2001, the City of Gastonia Wastewater Treatment Division (WWTD) has successfully developed and implemented an ISO 14001 Environmental Management System (EMS). The Division began working on its EMS on February 2, 1999 and on June 15, 2001 they received third party certification that the Division's EMS conforms to the ISO 14001 standard which makes the City of Gastonia Wastewater Treatment Division the 1st certified public agency in the State of North Carolina.
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