NOTICE OF REVIEW OF AN
ALASKA POLLUTANT DISCHARGE ELIMINATION SYSTEM (APDES)
PRELIMINARY DRAFT PERMIT
TO DISCHARGE TO WATERS OF THE UNITED STATES
DEC has prepared an APDES preliminary draft permit for UniSea, Inc. – Dutch Harbor Facility. The Preliminary Draft Permit and associated documents are available to the applicant for a 10-day review. Following the close of the 10-day applicant review period, DEC will prepare a draft permit and fact sheet for a formal 30-day public review period. Public comments will be accepted during the formal 30-day review period. You can access the documents on DEC’s Wastewater Discharge Authorization Program webpage at: https://dec.alaska.gov/water/wastewater/
DEC Contact: Anne Weaver
555 Cordova St.
Anchorage, AK 99501
(907) 269-7483
anne.weaver@alaska.gov
Preliminary Draft Permit Review:
Start Date: 04/11/2024
End Date: 04/24/2024
Permit No.: AK0028657
Applicant: UniSea, Inc.
Dutch Harbor Facility
88 Salmon Way
Dutch Harbor, AK 99692
Proposed Project and Location:
UniSea, Inc. owns, operates, and maintains the facility, which conducts seafood processing and seafood meal reduction.
Wastewater passes through rotary screens with mesh size of either 0.4 mm or 0.5 mm and is then collected in the main sump. Skimmers harvest the floatable and settleable solids, and the wastewater exits the sump and passes through another 0.4 mm screen before it is mixed with meal plant stickwater and crab processing water (also screened to 0.5 mm) and discharged, along with storm water, through Outfall 001A-E to South Unalaska Bay.
Outfall 001A-D terminate at -67 feet mean lower low water (MLLW) in water 70 feet deep. Outfall 001E is located 210 feet north of them and terminates at -77 feet MLLW in water 80 feet deep.
Storm water as well as non-contact cooling water from refrigeration condensers, boiler blowdown water, and powerhouse sump water is discharged from Outfall 002A. Powerhouse sump water passes through an oil-water separator prior to commingling with the non-contact cooling water and discharging. Outfall 002A discharges from the dock to Iliuliuk Harbor at -19 feet MLLW into water 24 feet deep.
Residual tissue pieces are dehydrated and reduced to meal as a marketable secondary product. Fish meal processing produces a waste stream of water used in evaporation machinery and to scrub dryer vapors from the meal dryers. This wastewater is discharged from Outfall 003A. Outfall 003A discharges at -3 feet MLLW under the dock to Iliuliuk Harbor into water 28 feet deep.
There is a mixing zone for color, turbidity, residues, non-petroleum oil and grease, dissolved oxygen, and sediment around Outfall 001A-E.
There are mixing zones for temperature around Outfall 002A and Outfall 003A.
There is an authorized 1.0-acre zone of deposit for residues on the seafloor.
Administrative Record:
The APDES preliminary draft permit, fact sheet, and associated documents are available for public review at the DEC offices located in Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau, Soldotna, and Wasilla. Please contact the office of your choice to arrange for hard copies of the documents to be available for your review.
555 Cordova Street 610 University Avenue 410 Willoughby Ave
Anchorage, AK 99501 Fairbanks, AK 99709 Juneau, AK 99811
907-269-6285 907-451-2100 907-465-5300
43335 Kalifornsky Beach Road 1700 E Bogard Road #B
Soldotna, AK 99615 Suite #103
907-262-5210 Wasilla, AK 99654
907-376-1850
If you would like to see any additional supporting technical documents, contact Anne Weaver.
The documents are also accessible from the DEC website at:
https://dec.alaska.gov/water/wastewater/
Disability Reasonable Accommodation Notice
The State of Alaska, Department of Environmental Conservation complies with Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. If you are a person with a disability who may need a special accommodation in order to participate in this review, please contact Megan Kohler at (907) 269-4198 or TDD Relay Service 1-800-770-8973/TTY or dial 711 within 10 days of publication of this notice to ensure that any necessary accommodations can be provided.