Your Business, the Clean Water Act and the Pretreatment Program

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Your Business, the Clean Water Act and the
Pretreatment Program

• Curt A. McCormick
• Pretreatment Coordinator
• USEPA Region 8

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EPA and Region 8

• EPA is broken into 10 Regions.
• Denver is Region 8.
• Region 8 includes Colorado, Montana, North
  Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming.

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Current Status of Authorization to States

• Colorado Not seeking authorization
• Montana Not seeking authorization
• North Dakota Seeking authorization
• South Dakota Authorized
• Utah Authorized
• Wyoming Not seeking authorization

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What is the Clean Water Act?

• The Clean Water Act is a law or statute. This
  Act lays out the overall framework of what EPA
  and the states must do.
• It establishes programs and requirements to
  protect rivers, lakes, streams, creeks, and other
  conveyances (ditches) that are Waters of the
  United States.
• Intended to make waters Fishable and Swimmable
  and prohibits the discharge of toxic material in
  toxic amounts.

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Regulations

• Regulations, such as the Pretreatment Regulations
  (40 CFR Part 403), are developed to implement the
  CWA.

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Intent of the Pretreatment Program

• The objectives of the Pretreatment Program are
  to prevent the introduction of pollutants to a
  POTW (sewerage system or treatment works) that
  may cause Pass Through or Interference or
  otherwise interfere with the disposal of
  biosolids.

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The General Pretreatment Regulations

• The Pretreatment Program covers ALL dischargers
  to sewerage systems that are non-domestic
  sources (covers all commercial, industrial and
  government). This includes treatment units
  (grease interceptors, sand traps, etc.) hooked to
  sewer systems.

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Legal Framework

• This is the only environmental program where EPA
  has authorized local governments (POTWs) directly
  to implement and enforce Federal and local laws.
  

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The General Pretreatment Regulations

• No User shall cause or contribute to any instance
  of Pass Through or Interference. This includes
  any violation of a General or Specific
  Prohibition, Local Limit, Categorical Standard,
  any other Pretreatment Standard or Pretreatment
  Requirement.

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Definitions

• POTW means a treatment works which is owned by
  a state or municipality. Includes any devices
  and systems used in the storage, treatment,
  recycling, and reclamation of municipal sewage or
  industrial wastes of a liquid nature. It
  includes sewers, pipes, and other conveyances if
  they convey wastewater to a POTW treatment plant.
  
• Local Limits Those concentrations or loadings
  of pollutants that a POTW can accept and prevent
  pass through and Interference and a violation of
  General and Specific Prohibitions. These limits
  are adopted by the POTW (municipality, district,
  etc.) as are other codes or rules and
  regulations.

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What Your Business May Expect from
Cities/Districts in Which You are Located.

• New Ordinance or Rules and Regulations
• Industrial Waste Survey requiring information
  from you.
• Inspections
• Specific Local Limits
• Grease Control Programs
• Trucked and Hauled Waste Manifesting
• Enforcement for Noncompliance

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Inspections

• Often occur after getting information via the
  Industrial Waste Survey
• Typical businesses that may be of immediate
  concern are those that plate metal, phosphate
  before painting metal, high strength BOD,
  petroleum oil discharges, trucked and hauled
  waste businesses that do not manifest.

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POTWs and Common Problems

• The most common problems at POTWs that are
• Unknown IUs/Commercial Users
• Big, Influential IU/Politically Weak POTW
• Grease Control Problems
• Trucked and Hauled Waste (To be covered after
  break)

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3. Grease Control Programs

• Who needs to have one? ALL POTWS!
• This is one of the primary areas where POTWs have
  not taken adequate steps to control discharge of
  grease to the sewerage system.
• POTWs must be required to implement and enforce a
  grease control program to protect the POTW and
  collection system.

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What does this mean?

• For businesses that pick up grease and food
  related waste from businesses within city limits,
  there will be more requirements regarding
  manifesting, etc. placed upon the generator and
  hence, the hauler.

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What Violations Have We Seen?

• Illegal dumping through illegal connections to
  sewers or popping manholes.
• No record keeping
• Spraying loads in unauthorized areas (roads,
  ditches)
• Falsified manifests.

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Trucked and Hauled Waste

• Overview

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Trucked and Hauled Waste

• The discharge of trucked and hauled waste has
  become a significant problem for smaller POTWs
  and the environment in the last 15 years. Many
  unscrupulous waste haulers discharge grease
  interceptor waste, portable toilet waste, septic
  tank waste, and other wastes at small, unattended
  POTWs, in hidden manholes, in ditches, on roads,
  on open land, and in our streams, rivers and
  lakes.
• The increase in improper disposal by some waste
  haulers has been due to the refusal of landfills
  to take liquid waste, the implementation of fees
  and testing by POTWs for accepting these types of
  wastes, the institution of record keeping
  requirements by Biosolids regulations and state
  ground water protection requirements, and greed.

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Trucked and Hauled Waste

• The Region 8, Industrial Pretreatment Program
  intends to target these illegal discharges for
  identification and aggressive enforcement.
  Further, Region 8 will implement existing
  requirements under 40 CFR Part 403 and any
  categorical discharge standards to identify and
  control these discharges.
• The Industrial Pretreatment Program will provide
  education to businesses and assist POTWs where
  needed to eliminate the common attitude that As
  long as it is not dumped in my backyard, I do not
  care. If the waste is generated in your
  community, you should care about the people next
  door.

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Trucked and Hauled Waste

• Region 8, Industrial Pretreatment Program has
  provided a document that provides technical
  information on how to establish controls on
  trucked and hauled waste activities.
• The Strategy was developed with providing POTWs
  maximum flexibility in what a hauled waste
  program may look like. It balances resource
  commitments by the POTW with the need to
  implement a basic control. The approach is
  non-traditional in the sense that if controls
  were implemented by-the-book (i.e. POTWs would
  have to expend significant resources on tracking
  and demonstrating that wastes were not discharged
  to the POTW on a business-by-business approach).

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Trucked and Hauled Waste

• All POTWs must prohibit the discharge to the
  sewer system of any wastes that would violate any
  of the General and Specific Prohibitions
  specified at 40 CFR Section 403.5 The General
  and Specific Prohibitions are in the NPDES permit
  issued to all POTWs.
• Specifically, all POTWs are required to prohibit
  the discharge of hauled waste except at points
  designated by the POTW.

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Trucked and Hauled Waste

• The Strategy approaches control of trucked and
  hauled waste in a practical manner. It is
  intended to provide POTWs with approaches and
  technical information on instituting and
  maintaining a trucked and hauled waste program.
  These POTW programs may be complex or simple.
  They may require adoption of some additional
  legal authority, even allowing for the use of
  permits.
• In your handout, there is a flow chart that
  outlines all aspects of a complete trucked and
  hauled waste program.

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Manifests/Transport Tickets

• There is a sample manifest in your handouts.
• Divided into several sections. Part I is
  information on the transporter. Part II is for
  the transporter to fill in information for each
  of the generators. Part III is a certification.
• The manifests were are providing have a copy for
  the POTW/county, transporter, and each generator.

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Current Topics

• State Delegation
• EPA Organization Enforcement vs Program office
• EPA Regional Conference
• Chronic Wasting Disease
• Local Limits approved and non-approved programs
• Trucked and Hauled Waste
• Nonylphenols and endocrine disruptors
• Questions?

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Your Business, the Clean Water Act and the
Pretreatment Program

• Curt A. McCormick
• Pretreatment Coordinator
• USEPA Region 8
• 303-312-6377
• 1-800-227-8917 x6377
• mccormick.curt_at_epa.gov
• Jeff Roerick
• [phone]
• jroerick_at_state.nd.us