Toxicity deep-well injected wastes

A waste is toxic under 40 CFR Part 261 if the extract from a sample of the waste exceeds specified limits for any one of eight elements and five pesticides (arsenic, barium, cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury, selenium, silver, endrin, methoxychlor, toxaphene, 2,4-D and 2,4,5-TP Silvex using extraction procedure (EP) toxicity test methods. Note that this narrow definition of toxicity relates to whether a waste is defined as hazardous for regulatory purposes in the context of this chapter, toxicity has a broader meaning because most deep-well-injected wastes have properties that can be toxic to living organisms. 

Transformation processes change the chemical structure of a compound. Because not all transformation processes convert hazardous wastes to nonhazardous compounds, geochemical fate assessment must consider both the full range of transformation processes that may occur and the toxicity and mobility of the resulting products. For deep-well-injected wastes, transformation processes and subsequent reactions may lead to one or more of the following ... 

Disposals The final placement or destruction of toxic, radioactive, or other wastes surplus or banned pesticides or other chemicals polluted soils and drums containing hazardous materials from removal actions or accidental releases. Disposal may be accomplished through use of approved secure landfills, surface impoundments, land farming, deep-well injection, ocean dumping, or incineration... 

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, maintains the Toxic Chemical Release Inventory. This database summarizes estimated chemical releases from industrial somees to air, water, land, and the subsurface by deep-well injection, and the transfer of materials to waste treatment sites in the U.S. 

If yourfacility has a permit to inject a waste containing the toxic chemical into Class 1 deep wells, enter the 12-digit Underground Injection Well Code (UlC) identification number assigned by EPA or by the State under the authority of the Sate Drinking Water Act. If your facility does not hold such a p>ermit(s), enter not applicable, NA, in Section 3.1 la. You are only required to provide the UlC number for wells that receive the toxic chemical being reported. 

Partition processes determine how a substance is distributed among the liquid, solid, and gas phases and determine the chemical form or species of a substance. Partitioning usually does not affect the toxic properties of the substance. Partitioning can, however, affect the mobility of the waste, its compatibility with the injection zone, or other factors that influence fate in the deep-well environment. The major partition processes are as follows ... 

Finally, the type of waste injected into the well is a determinant in how deep the injection will be made. The more toxic the waste, the farther down the disposal zone must usually be. Disposal zones have been classified into five different types ... 

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