Aiming to remove toxic pollutants at the source

The Federal Clean Water Act was enacted to eliminate discharges of pollutants into navigable waters to achieve water that is both “swimmable” and “fishable”. The focus of the federal program has been on direct municipal and industrial point sources that discharge to a receiving stream and on indirect industrial sources that discharge to a treatment facility. The Clean Water Act gave the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. E.P.A.) the authority to establish and enforce pretreatment standards for businesses and industries that discharge into a sewer system.

Industrial wastewater can contain harmful pollutants that might not be removed at wastewater treatment facilities and therefore could pass into receiving streams and biosolids. The pretreatment regulations aim to remove harmful pollutants at the source of the industrial discharge so that they do not interfere with the treatment processes at the wastewater treatment facility or harm our workforce or the aquatic environment.

VIEW PRELIMINARY INDUSTRIAL WASTE SURVEY VIEW INDUSTRIAL DISCHARGE PERMIT APPLICATION

The Greater Lawrence Sanitary District (GLSD) established its Industrial Pretreatment Program (IPP) to regulate industrial discharges to the sewer system. The GLSD administers an EPA approved pretreatment program through its Rules and Regulations Covering Discharge of Wastewater, Drainage, Substances or Waste or local sewer use ordinance. These Rules and Regulations govern all industrial users of the District’s treatment facility through the issuance of permits, control documents and through the enforcement of Federal pretreatment requirements and technically based local discharge limitations.

Businesses and industries that are typically regulated are:

  • Hospitals
  • Pharmaceutical and Chemical Manufacturers
  • Dairy Manufacturers
  • Textile Mills
  • Printed Circuit Board Manufacturers
  • Electroplaters and Metal Finishers

The Greater Lawrence Sanitary District is required to file information with the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency relative to certain industrial discharges served. In order to facilitate the preparation of these reports and to minimize duplication of effort both on the part of industry and the District, copies of certain parts of the Federal reporting forms and instructions have been made a part of this application. They will be used by the District to determine the acceptability of a waste into the District’s system, the need for pretreatment requirements and for submission to the EPA as part of the District’s application for a discharge permit.

In addition to the information required on EPA Form 7550-22(7-73), Section IV, Industrial Waste Contribution to Municipal System, the applicant shall sample and analyze his wastes as follows in accordance with the EPA methods.

  1. Groundwater and Preliminary Industrial Waste Survey
  2. Industrial Discharge Permit Application

In order to achieve the above mentioned goals the GLSD requirements for the disposal of septage wastes by haulers at the receiving station is described in this PDF document.

The Monitoring Department incorporates the District’s analytical testing laboratory and the Industrial Pretreatment Program (IPP). The Laboratory is Massachusetts State certified for wastewater analysis. Approximately thirty percent of the total analysis is in support of process control for the Operations Department. The remaining seventy percent are regulatory analysis for compliance with the NPDES permit and the pretreatment program. The EPA approved Industrial Pretreatment Program regulates non-residential users of the District’s system to insure that wastewater discharged will not cause interference at the wastewater treatment plant.

The District recognizes the need to provide analytical testing data that is representative of the conditions in question and is suitable for making decisions that involve compliance with environmental regulations, public health, safety and legal obligations. For more information on the lab and its analytical capabilities refer to The Quality Assurance and Quality Control Plan for the GLSD Laboratory.

The goal of the Greater Lawrence Sanitary District Laboratory is to generate the most precise, accurate and reproducible data possible in a timely and cost-efficient manner. The reliability and integrity of the sampling and analysis reflects directly on an excellent Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC) Program.

On any given day, waste water at the Greater Lawrence Sanitary District starts out filled with impurities. After treatment and disinfection, the final effluent is returned to the Merrimack River.

GLSD recognizes the need to provide data that is representative of the actual conditions throughout its treatment process and regarding the final effluent for NPDES compliance.

For more details on the QA/QC Program please download the Quality Assurance Document.

Ongoing Programs

All analyses are conducted in strict accordance with approved, up-to-date methodologies and performed by highly trained, skilled technicians. GLSD recognizes that the establishment of a QA/QC program represents a considerable investment of both personnel and capital. GLSD feels this is a worthy investment as it officially documents the continual monitoring of the quality of generated data.

Government Regulations

In addition, government regulatory agencies have specific requirements pertaining to laboratory QA/QC to insure the data they receive is an adequate and fair assessment of environmental conditions present. GLSD maintains its QA/QC program in accordance with guidelines set forth by E.P.A., NELAC, and state certification authorities.

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