On July 24, 1990, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) promulgated changes to the general pretreatment regulations (55 FR 30082). The changes affect both publicly-owned treatment works (POTWs) and industrial users of POTWs. One of the changes requires industrial users to submit a new one-time notification of hazardous wastes discharged to sewers. Following is a brief description of this new requirement.
Who Must Notify. All industrial users who discharge listed or characteristic hazardous wastes under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) to POTWs. Listed and characteristic wastes under RCRA are described in the Code of Federal Regulations (40 CFR Part 261).
To Whom the Notification Must be Sent. The notification must be sent to:
- Local Sewerage Authority
- Director, Waste Management Division
Environmental Protection Agency
Region 5
- State Hazardous Waste Authority
Wastes Covered by the Notification.
- Any discharge to the sewer of more than fifteen (15) kilograms per calendar month of a RCRA hazardous waste, or a discharge of any quantity of an acutely hazardous waste identified in 40 CFR 261.30(d) and 261.33(e), should be reported once.
- A discharge of fifteen (15) kilograms or less of a RCRA hazardous waste during a calendar month need not be reported, except for the acutely hazardous wastes identified in 40 CFR 261.30(d) and 261.33(e). A subsequent discharge of more than fifteen (15) kilograms during a calendar month, or of any quantity of an acutely hazardous waste, must be reported once.
- Pollutants already reported under 40 CFR 403.12(b), (d), and (e) (reporting requirements for categorical users) are not subject to this notification requirement.
What the Notification Must Contain.
1. The one-time notification shall contain the following items of information:
- Name of the hazardous waste as set forth in 40 CFR Part 261.
- EPA hazardous waste number.
- Type of discharge to the sewer (continuous, batch, or other).
- A certification that the industrial user has a program in place to reduce the volume and toxicity of hazardous wastes generated to the degree it has determined to be economically practical.
2. If the industrial user discharges more than one hundred (100) kilograms of hazardous waste per calendar month to the POTW, the one-time notification must also contain the following items of information, to the extent such information is known and readily available to the industrial user:
- An identification of the hazardous constituents contained in the hazardous wastes.
- An estimation of the mass and concentration of such constituents in the wastestreams discharged during the calendar month in which the one-time report is made.
- An estimation of the mass of constituents in the wastestream expected to be discharged during the twelve (12) months following the notification.
How to Count the Volume of Hazardous Waste Discharged. If a hazardous waste is mixed with a non-hazardous process or non-process wastestream and the entire mixture is then discharged to the sewer, the volume of hazardous waste in the entire wastestream is counted according to the RCRA “mixture rule” in 40 CFR 261.3(a)(2)(iii). The effect of this rule is summarized as follows:
- Characteristic Wastes. These are wastes that are classified as hazardous only because they exhibit one of the hazardous characteristics identified in 40 CFR 261.20-261.24 (i.e., they are ignitable, corrosive, reactive or toxic). If these wastes are mixed with non-hazardous materials and the mixture is then discharged to the sewer, the notification must be submitted only if the entire mixture actually discharged were more than fifteen (15) kilograms per calendar month in volume and if the entire mixture discharged still exhibited the characteristic(s).
- Listed Wastes. These are wastes that are classified as hazardous pursuant to being listed in 40 CFR 261.30-33. If these listed wastes are mixed with non-hazardous materials and then discharged to the sewer, the entire wastestreams is considered hazardous and the notification must be submitted. Thus only if the entire wastestreams containing the hazardous waste amounted to fifteen (15) kilograms per month or less would the exemption discussed above apply.
- If an industrial user has any doubt about whether a mixture discharged to the sewer is hazardous, or if the user does not wish to perform any calculations which may be necessary under the mixture rule, the user should submit the one-time notification.
When the Notification Must be Submitted.
- The notification must be submitted within one hundred eighty (180) days of August 23, 1990 (i.e., no later than February 23, 1991).
- Industrial users who commence discharging after August 23, 1990 must submit the notification no later than one hundred eighty (180) days after the discharge of a hazardous waste.
- In the case of regulations under Section 3001 of RCRA identifying new hazardous wastes, the notification must be submitted within ninety (90) days of the effective date of such regulations.
- The notification need be submitted only once for each hazardous waste discharged, except when there will be a substantial change in the volume or character of the hazardous waste discharged (generally because of a planned change to the user’s facility or operations). In the case of such a change, the user should notify the POTW in advance.
For Further Information.
- General questions about the requirements should be directed to the pretreatment manager of your local sewerage authority. Questions about whether your waste is hazardous should be directed to the EPA RCRA Hotline (800/424-9346).
Illinois Addresses for Notification
Director, Waste Management Division Illinois EPA
U.S. EPA Region 5 Division of Land Pollution Control
230 South Dearborn Street Attn: Karen Hoffman
Chicago, IL 60604 2200 Churchill Road
P.O. Box 19276
Springfield, IL 62794-9276
Hazardous Constituent Information.
Name of Constituent | Mass in Wastestream (this month) | Concentration in Wastestream (this month) | Mass in Wastestream (next 12 months) |
I certify that I have a program in place to reduce the volume and toxicity of hazardous wastes generated to the degree I have determined to be economically practical.
Signature of Company Representative Date
(1960 Code, Ch. 38, Appendix) (Ord. 5677, passed 12-16-1996; Am. Ord. 8173-2018, passed 2-21-2018)