Industrial Pretreatment Program

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.