XENIA — The Greene County Sanitary Engineering Department recently modified Section 4 of its sewer regulations to meet regulatory requirements set by the Ohio EPA and ensure compliance with Industrial Pretreatment Program standards.
According to the Ohio EPA, the pretreatment program regulates industrial facilities discharging wastewater to publicly owned treatment works (POTWs). These facilities, known as industrial users, discharge process wastewater often contaminated by a variety of toxic or otherwise harmful substances. POTWs are usually not specifically designed to treat these substances. Therefore, pretreatment programs are needed to eliminate potentially serious problems that occur when these substances are discharged into public sewer systems.
The program is mandated under the federal Clean Water Act.
Renewal of 2019 National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Permits for the Beavercreek and Sugarcreek Water Resource Reclamation Facilities required GCSED to provide a technical justification of local limits per a Municipal Pretreatment Compliance Schedule.
After recommendations from Ohio EPA came through, a Gap Analysis was conducted on Section 4 Sewer Regulations to identify language inconsistencies, conflicting, and duplicate information. That process was completed to ensure language is consistent with other internal documents and guidance based on industrial pretreatment standards.
At last week’s county commissioners’ meeting, Commissioner Tom Koogler wanted to know how the whole process was working out.
“It is taking a little more time than the department would like,” Greene County Administrator Brandon Huddleson said. “They wanted to package everything together.”
GCSED Director Jason Tincu said changes to the regulations are not odd.
“These are regular updates, usually on a five year cycle, to our Industrial Pretreatment Program regulations,” Tincu said. “These are in place to protect the integrity and compliance of our wastewater treatment facilities and to ensure no dangerous discharges harm the environment.”
Tincu said the GCSED does not work alone.
“We work with local commercial and industrial facilities to maintain compliance with these standards and protect Greene County’s facilities,” he said. “These regulations have been developed in concert with the Ohio EPA.”
According to the EPA, any POTW with a design flow equal to or greater than 5 million gallons per day is required to develop a local pretreatment program. An approved program can be administered by a city, county, or some other government entity, and may be responsible for several POTWs and associated sewer systems, or collection systems. Requirements for an approved program are enforced through the NPDES permit issued to the POTW. At present, Ohio EPA oversees approximately 100 approved local pretreatment programs administered by cities, counties and other local governmental entities.
