What does EPA consider “effectively treated” for this rule (i.e., is it a certain percent removal)?
A facility can evaluate the effectiveness of a treatment technology by performance measures that look at how much contaminant is removed from the wastewater, the amount of other waste generated by the treatment step, and the cost of the treatment. The facility should evaluate three measures to determine if the treatment technology effectively removed the contaminant: percent removal, final effluent concentration, and minimum detection limit. For example, if 95% or more of a constituent is removed by a technology, that technology would be considered effective. Conversely, if a technology only removes 30% of a constituent, but the constituent is removed to below its detection limit, EPA considers the constituent to be effectively treated. The facility should also take cost into account. A technology may effectively remove a constituent, but at a high cost relative to other treatment technologies that may also effectively remove the constituent. Chapter 6 of the P2 Guidance Manual provide
