The City’s Industrial Pretreatment Program is a collaboration of citizens, the business community, and City staff working together to protect the environment and O’Fallon’s wastewater treatment systems while meeting local, state and federal environmental regulations.
The Industrial Pretreatment Program’s primary goal is to protect the integrity of the sewer collection system, ensure proper operation of the City’s Wastewater Treatment Plant, and prevent the introduction of harmful pollutants into the treatment system. The Program is mandated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources in their efforts to protect our State’s natural environment.
The Program accomplishes this by maintaining an up-to-date list of industrial users within the service area and by conducting compliance inspections of on-site pre-treatment systems who receive sewer service from the City of O’Fallon.
The Program also includes issuing and enforcing Industrial Wastewater Discharge Permits to Significant Industrial Users in order to limit the volume and strength of discharged wastewater and requires the implementation of on-site pollution prevention protocols and regular maintenance of wastewater pretreatment facilities. Significant Industrial Users must conduct routine self-monitoring of their wastewater discharges and report compliance status to the City. Additionally, City staff monitor reports and conduct routine inspections of Significant Industrial Users to ensure permit compliance.
The City of O’Fallon is legally and morally obligated to assure that wastewater is properly treated and that the resulting bio-solids and effluent are safe for disposal or reuse. The health and economic welfare of the community are of the utmost importance to us. For this reason, O’Fallon’s Industrial Pretreatment Program is committed to protecting your water resources.
Background:
National Pretreatment Program
The national pretreatment program is a component of the federal Clean Water Act. It is a cooperative effort of federal, state, and local environmental regulatory agencies established to protect water quality. The EPA and Missouri Department of Natural Resource authorizes and requires local municipalities to perform permitting, administrative, and enforcement tasks for discharges into the municipalities’ publicly owned treatment plants. The program is designed to:
- protect publicly owned treatment plants
- reduce conventional and toxic pollutant levels discharged by industries and other nondomestic wastewater sources into municipal sewer systems and into the environment.
The national pretreatment program requires nondomestic dischargers to comply with pretreatment standards to ensure the goals of the federal Clean Water Act are attained.
The objectives of the program are to:
- prevent the introduction of pollutants into the City’s treatment plant that will interfere with its operation, including interference with its use or disposal of municipal sludge,
- prevent the introduction of pollutants into the City’s treatment plant that will pass through the treatment works or otherwise be incompatible with it, and
- improve opportunities to recycle and reclaim municipal and industrial wastewaters and sludges.
The national pretreatment program identifies specific discharge standards and requirements that apply to sources of nondomestic wastewater discharged to the City’s treatment plant. By reducing or eliminating waste at the industries (“source reduction”), fewer toxic pollutants are discharged to and treated by the City’s treatment plant, providing benefits to both the City’s treatment plant and the environment.
NEW — EPA Rule for Dental Offices:
On June 14, 2017 the U.S. EPA published Dental Effluent Guidelines to reduce discharges of mercury from dental offices to municipal wastewater systems. Dental facilities subject to the rule must achieve the following:
- Remove dental amalgam solids from process wastewater using an ISO 11143 separator or equivalent.
- Implement Best Management Practices including not discharging waste amalgam and not using cleaners with pH lower than 6 or greater than 8.
Additional Information:
For further information and/or permit applications, please call 636-379-2212.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Quick Links:
- Introduction to the National Pretreatment Program (EPA, 2011) - https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2015-10/documents/pretreatment_program_intro_2011.pdf
- Clean Water Act – https://www.epa.gov/environmental-topics/water-topics#what-you-can-do
- Federal EPA Regulations (40 CFR 403) – https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=058d52179bb45249a56ffa20e0f9ccee&mc=true&node=pt40.31.403&rgn=div5
- Categorical Pretreatment Standards: https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?gp=&SID=058d52179bb45249a56ffa20e0f9ccee&mc=true&tpl=/ecfrbrowse/Title40/40CIsubchapN.tpl
- Missouri State Pretreatment Regulations (refer to 10 CSR 20-6.100): https://www.sos.mo.gov/cmsimages/adrules/csr/current/10csr/10c20-6.pdf
- EPA IPP Regulations – https://www.epa.gov/npdes/national-pretreatment-program
- EPA Dental Fact Sheet – https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2016-12/documents/dental-elg_final_fact-sheet_12-2016.pdf
- Dental Effluent Guidelines – https://www.epa.gov/eg/dental-effluent-guidelines
- O’Fallon Municipal Code – https://www.ecode360.com/27648005