Industrial Pretreatment Program
The Municipal Services Department implements the City of Independence’s Industrial Pretreatment Program, which was approved by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The National Pretreatment Program was established under the Clean Water Act passed by the U.S. Congress. The National Pretreatment Program is a cooperative effort of federal, state, and local environmental agencies to protect water quality. The pretreatment program regulates discharges to the sanitary sewer system from industries and non-domestic sewer users.
The term "pretreatment" refers to the requirement that industries and non-domestic users discharging wastewater to the sanitary sewer system must control their discharges and meet pollutant limits allowed to be discharged. The control of pollutants may necessitate treatment prior to discharge to the sanitary sewer, or "pretreatment".
Categorical Industries and Significant Industrial Users are required to be permitted by federal, state, and local regulations. For facilities subject to these regulations the following Industrial Wastewater Permit Application must be submitted along with a Commercial and Industrial Wastewater Survey (found below) to the Municipal Services Department. For any questions regarding the application please contact Municipal Services at (816) 325-7711.
Pretreatment Program Objectives
To protect the City’s sanitary sewer collection system and wastewater treatment plant from adverse impacts resulting from the discharge of untreated industrial wastewater, such as explosion, fire, or interference with the treatment process; to prevent pollutants from industry discharges from passing through the City’s wastewater treatment plant into receiving waters; and to improve the quality of sludge produced during the treatment process.
Pretreatment Program Activities
- Identifying industries that need to be regulated
- Issuing permits to Significant Industrial Users
- Sampling and inspecting industries and non-domestic users
- Evaluating industrial and non-domestic user compliance with pretreatment requirements
- Taking enforcement actions, as warranted
Dental Amalgam
On July 14, 2017 the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) final amalgam rule: Dental Office Point Source Category, 40 CFR Part 441, went into effect. This rule effects dental practices, which place or remove amalgam fillings and discharge to a publicly owned treatment works (POTW). This rule requires dentists to submit a one-time compliance report. This report can be found here. If you have any questions regarding this rule or filling out the one-time compliance report you may contact Municipal Services at (816) 325-7711.
Commercial and Industrial Wastewater Survey
The Municipal Services Department is required to survey commercial and industrial sanitary sewer customers. The purpose of this survey is to identify discharges and potential discharges, which may cause problems for our collection system or to the wastewater treatment process. This survey can be found here. For any questions regarding the survey please contact Municipal Services at (816) 325-7711.
Significant Industrial Users
Six Significant Industrial Users (SIUs) have been identified that discharge to the City of Independence sanitary sewer system. SIUs are industries that are regulated by national categorical pretreatment standards or that discharge at least 25,000 gallons per day of industrial process wastewater. The Municipal Services Department can also designate other industries as SIUs if they have a reasonable potential to cause adverse impacts on the City’s wastewater treatment plant.
Fats, Oils, and Grease (FOG) Program
The Municipal Services Department requires all food service facilities and any other non-domestic sewer users that has the potential to discharge excessive fats, oils, and grease (FOG) to the sanitary sewer to have a grease/oil interceptor installed. This includes but is not limited to restaurants, cafeterias, automotive garages, hotels, car washes, etc. FOG has been identified nationally as a leading cause of sewer overflows. Sewer overflows impact the environment and increase sewer maintenance costs.
Grease interceptor sizing requirements and calculations for food service facilities are listed in the Grease Interceptor Sizing PDF below.
Grease interceptors are required to be maintained and cleaned at regular intervals. The clean-out frequency of existing grease interceptors can be calculated using the Grease Interceptor Clean-Out Worksheet.
Questions?
For additional information on the Independence Industrial Pretreatment Program, please contact Municipal Services Office of Environmental Compliance at (816) 325-7711.