Discharge of industrial waste-water to the sanitary sewer system

[Valuesize]

Anyone know more about this? Where does the sanitary sewer system go? What kind of industrial waste-water?

Public Notice - Industrial Wastewater Discharge Permit
Posted Date: 6/11/2012 10:15 AM
The City of Grants Pass has issued an Industrial Wastewater Discharge Permit to Metal Finishers, Inc. for discharge of industrial wastewater to the sanitary sewer system. Any person, including the user may petition the City to reconsider the terms of the permit within 30 days of this notice, per the City's Sewer Use Ordinance 8.50.053 Wastewater Discharge Permit Appeals.

Written comments will be accepted at the Water Restoration Plant, 1200 SW Greenwood Ave. until 4:30 pm on July 12, 2012. A copy of the permit is available at the Water Restoration Plant.

[Clone]

I've never heard of it...are you going to find out?
I'd be curious to know!

[Leonard]

In accordance with the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES), as required by the
Clean Water Act, metal finishers are required to pretreat their wastewater prior to releasing it to
municipal sewers or surface waters.

As the regulations governing the discharge of wastewater become
more stringent, publicly owned treatment works have set lower discharge limits on heavy metals and
other contaminants of concern. With the greater quantities of wastewater being produced and discharge
limits being lowered, there is a need for more efficient processes to remove heavy metals.

Wastewater from metal finishing industries contains contaminants such as heavy metals, organic
substances, cyanides, and suspended solids, at levels which are hazardous to the environment and pose
potential health risks to the public. Heavy metals, in particular, are of great concern because of their
toxicity to human and other biological life. Heavy metals typically present in metal finishing wastewater
are cadmium, chromium, copper, lead, nickel, silver, tin, and zinc. Table 1 shows the EPA best practical
control technology, BPT, limits for metal finishing effluent.

Conclusion
While chemical precipitation is widely used in the treatment of metal finishing effluent, the process is tedious and
requires the use of several liquid chemicals to complete the metal removal step. The heavy metals may also be
present in complexed forms and not amenable to precipitation ?? which means failure to maintain compliance.
The process generates mostly hazardous waste that requires further treatment that, in turn, adds to the cost of
the treatment.

A new process that uses a mineral?based agent provides an effective alternative for the removal of heavy metals
and other contaminants from metal finishing waste streams. The treatment produces high quality effluents that
meet or exceed discharge standards and generates nonhazardous waste that does not endanger the environment
or public health.

http://aquachem-inc.com/Treating%20Metal...ewater.pdf

[PonderThis]

Sanitary sewer system = the same place your shit goes to.

[Valuesize]

Sanitary sewer system = the same place your shit goes to.

The Rogue River right?

[PonderThis]

I'm not sure these days. At least in some cases (speaking generally here, not Grants Pass specifically) it's distributed on land now as fertilizer. In the case of Grants Pass, at least some of the solids are mixed with collected leaves, composted, and sold to gardeners under the brand name "Jo-Gro". A process pioneered by Laird Funk, a previous plant operator/marijuana law activist who later was either fired or quit, I think it was over drug testing city employees if I remember correctly. A very inspired and innovative man.

[bbqboy]

I used to know Laird.

[PonderThis]

I did too, more years ago than I want to remember.

[chuck white]

We used to dump laser coolant into the city sewer, never had an issue with it.

[cletus1]

One of the main reasons that municipal systems require pre-treatment permits for some industrial dischargers into their system is that some contaminants can upset the biological system that conventional waste-water plants use to treat waste-water. Most plants use the activated sludge system or a variation of that system. Basically, that process uses aerobic organisms, mainly bacteria to decompose the organic material in wastewater, Heavy metals or low or high pH waste streams from industrial sources can kill off these organisms.

[PonderThis]

We used to dump laser coolant into the city sewer, never had an issue with it.

It all runs downhill just fine, doesn't it?

[chuck white]

We used to dump laser coolant into the city sewer, never had an issue with it.

It all runs downhill just fine, doesn't it?

I've seen people dump rain gauge calibration fluid down the drain too.

[illcommandante]

They can just move over the hill to Merlin. That's what the manufacturers there had to do to avoid the light.

[illcommandante]

Don't flush the worthless shit they gave you at Mental Health, down the drain. There are living things in the river.