Bureau of Watershed Protection
Industrial Pretreatment Program

The City of Atlanta owns and operates three water reclamation centers (WRCs). These WRCs collect wastewater from homes, commercial and industrial facilities and remove harmful organisms and other contaminants so the treated wastewater may be safely returned to the environment. Atlanta’s Industrial Pretreatment Program enforces discharge standards which regulate discharges to the collection system in accordance with federal, state, and City regulations. These pretreatment regulations are designed to control pollutants from the industrial users which may pass through or interfere with the operations of the WRCs or which may contaminate the resulting sludge. Since the mid 1950s, Atlanta has diligently worked to protect both Atlanta’s infrastructure and environment by requiring many industries to pretreat their wastewater before discharging it into the sewer.

	Foaming at the South River WRC was caused by an illegal discharge of industrial wastewater. City staff identified the source of this wastewater within hours and forced the industry to immediately cease discharge. Such a discharge can interfere with the operations of the WRC, but, in this case, did not result in a passthrough to the environment.
A City employee installing an automatic sampler at an Industrial Discharger. The City routinely conducts surveillance monitoring of all Industrial Dischargers.

Report Illegal Dumping
Call 404-546-1352 or 404-546-1353

Pretreatment Ordinances

Permits
• Industrial Wastewater Discharge Permit Application
• Groundwater Remediation Site Wastewater Discharge Permit Application

Links:
EPA Pretreatment Program - Office of Wastewater Management
http://www.epa.gov/npdes/regulations/streamlining_part403.pdf
Georgia EPD - Water in Georgia
Georgia Environmental Protection Division - Home Page
Georgia EPD - Hazardous Waste Management In Georgia
Georgia EPD - Watershed Protection Branch
Water Environment Federation
Household Hazardous Waste


| BWP homepage|