What is the Industrial Pretreatment Program?

The Pretreatment Program is an EPA mandated program that requires South Adams County Water and Sanitation District to regulate the discharges from industrial and commercial sources into the Districts sewer system.

The purpose of the program is to reduce the amount of pollutants being discharged in order to:

• Protect the District's system from pollutants that could interfere with the treatment processes
• Protect the South Platte River from industrial pollutants that could pass the plant untreated
• Ensure that the District's biosolids remain of high quality can be used as a soil conditioner and fertilizer
• Protect District workers from potentially harmful chemicals

The term "pretreatment" refers to the requirement that industries pre-treat their wastewater before discharging it to the sanitary sewer system.

For more information please email manifests@sacwsd.org

What Type of Industries are Regulated Under the Industrial Pretreatment Program?

All businesses, including industrial, commercial, governmental establishments that discharge anything other than sanitary wastewater are technically subject to the requirements of the Pretreatment Regulations.

For most businesses, this simply means they cannot discharge anything that will adversely affect the wastewater system, its workers, the treatment plant effluent, or biosolids.

What are the responsibilities as a business owner?

Under Article III, Section 3.1.6: Proper maintenance and operation of all grease and sand/oil interceptors/traps shall be the responsibility of the owner and user. Maintenance of all interceptors/traps shall be performed on an as needed basis and at least once every 6 months. Maintenance shall entail removal of entire interceptor/trap contents. The partial removal of contents is not allowed.

Maintaining Records: Records of maintenance of interceptors/traps shall be kept by the user and shall remain on-site and accessible for review by District personnel for at least three (3) years.

Significant Industrial Users (SIUs)

For businesses that discharge significant amounts of pollutants, or other pollutants in amounts that may be detrimental to the District's operations, there may be additional requirements. These businesses, classified by the District as Significant Industrial Users (SIUs), are required to obtain an Industrial Discharge Permit in order to discharge to the sewer system.

Each permit contains specific limits on the industrial pollutants that are present in an industry's discharge. Permits also contain monitoring and reporting requirements with which the industry must comply if it is to continue discharging to the sewer system.

How Does An SIU Obtain An Industrial Discharge Permit?

Businesses should contact the Industrial Pretreatment Manager at 720-289-5769 to begin the permitting process.

What Businesses are Considered to be Significant Industrial Users?

The following types of businesses are considered to be SIUs:

• Businesses engaged in operations identified as categorical processes by the EPA. These categorical processes include:
  • Electroplating
  • Metal finishing
  • Nonferrous metals forming
  • Battery manufacturing
• Businesses that discharge 25,000 gallons per day or more of process wastewater. The only exception is if the District has found that the business has no potential to violate local pretreatment standards including Local Limits.
• Businesses, regardless of size, whose discharge has the potential to adversely affect the operations of the District or its connectors. This includes such facilities as:
  • Large food processors
  • Large rendering plants
  • Large film processing facilities
  • Groundwater remediation projects including leaking underground tank cleanups
• Note: Individual film developers are not regulated as SIUs at this time.

Requirements of SIUs

Besides obtaining an Industrial Discharge Permit, SIUs may be required to install facilities to treat their wastewater to meet applicable pretreatment standards prior to discharging to the sewer system.

SIUs must periodically sample and analyze their discharges to determine compliance, and must report the results to the Districts.

SIUs who fail to comply with pretreatment standards face the possibility of serious enforcement actions, including monetary penalties and termination of sewer service.

<a href="http://www.southadamswaterco.gov/business___development/industrial_pre_treatment.php">Your Link Name</a>