Integrating the Various EMS Initiatives at a Wastewater Treatment Facility

In recent years there have been several efforts started that seek to assist public agencies in developing environmental management systems (EMS). The US EPA and the Global Technology & Environment Foundation (GETF) have established the EMS Initiative for Public Entities (MUNI) for public agencies that have environmental aspects to their operations. To date, twenty-three public agencies have completed the program and another nine agencies are currently enrolled in the third round of the program (MUNI III).The National Biosolids Partnership (NBP), a joint partnership of WEF, AMSA, and the US EPA, has established the NBP EMS program for wastewater facilities that handle biosolids. There are currently forty-nine agencies enrolled in this program. There is a great similarity between these two programs, especially for wastewater treatment facilities.There are a variety of other, non-continuous improvement programs being developed. These include asset management, capacity, management, operation and maintenance (CMOM), balanced scorecard, and numerous others.Kent County, DE Dept. of Public Works is a participant in the MUNI III program for its wastewater treatment plant, including its biosolids treatment portion. Kent County is participating in the NBP program for its biosolids operation. It is also developing a CMOM program and is evaluating asset management programs.This paper will look at the similarities between the continuous improvement EMS programs (the MUNI and NBP programs, specifically), and address how to add in the asset management and CMOM requirements as key elements of the resulting EMS program.