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EPA Ammonia Regulations

Colorless but with a pungent odor, ammonia is a household and industrial ingredient with dozens of uses, from disinfecting to fertilization, pharmaceuticals to petrochemicals and everything in between. When unregulated, ammonia can be a hazard to humans and the environment. Therefore, the Environmental Protection Agency has issued guidelines on how to handle and dispose of products containing ammonia.

  1. Aquatic Life

    • The EPA has created national water quality standards in accordance with the Clean Water Act, and the EPA's guidelines for ammonia are based on its 1985 Aquatic Life Criteria Guidelines. According to the EPA, organisms living in freshwater should not be negatively affected by ammonia if the one-hour average total concentration of ammonia nitrogen does not increase more than one time every three years. Additionally, the 30-day average concentration of ammonia nitrogen cannot exceed the chronic criterion more than one time every three years. Chronic criterion is a mathematical function calculating water temperature and pH, and is dependent on the specific site. The highest four-day average within 30 days cannot exceed 2.5 times the chronic criterion.

    Refrigeration Facilities

    • Many commercial and industrial refrigeration facilities use anhydrous ammonia in mechanical compression systems. According to the EPA, ammonia is a toxic gas when under ambient conditions, and can be toxic and/or explosive when released. According to the EPA's Risk Management Program Rule, facilities using more than 10,000 pounds of anhydrous ammonia must develop a program to assess and prevent hazards as well as an emergency response plan.

    Meat and Poultry Products

    • The wastewater runoff from meat and poultry slaughter and production facilities contains ammonia, which is toxic to aquatic life and harms biodiversity. In 2004, the EPA set numerical limitations on the amount of wastewater such facilities can produce. For producers of poultry and red meat, the ammonia concentration limits are 4 mg/L average each month and 8 mg/L daily, as a maximum.

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