Industrial Pretreatment Program

DWM, DeKalb Watershed

The need for the Pretreatment Program:

Publicly owned treatment works (POTWs) collect wastewater from homes, commercial buildings and industrial facilities and transport to the Treatment Plant (s). However, they are not designed to treat most toxic or non-conventional pollutants that are present in the industrial waste. Consequently, discharges from both industrial and commercial sources can cause problems at POTWs and can have detrimental effects on the water quality of the receiving water body or the generated sludge which has to be disposed of. The undesirable effects of those discharges can be prevented by using treatment techniques or management practices to reduce or eliminate the discharge of the contaminants. The act of treating wastewater before discharge to a POTW is commonly referred to as pretreatment.

The objectives of the program are to:

Prevent the introduction of pollutants into a Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTW), including the associated sewers that will interfere with operations
Prevent the introduction of pollutants into a POTW that will pass through the treatment works or otherwise be incompatible with it
Improve opportunities to recycle and reclaim municipal and industrial wastewaters and sludges