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Effluent Guidelines currently control pollution at approximately 40,000 facilities that discharge directly to the nation's waters, 129,000 facilities that discharge to POTWs, and construction sites. Effluent Guidelines are implemented in water discharge permits issued to facilities through the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System ...
An effluent limitation is a United States Clean Water Act standard of performance reflecting a specified level of discharge reduction achievable by the best available technology or related standards for various sources of water pollution.
EPA has published technology-based regulations, called "effluent guidelines", for 59 industrial categories. [11] The agency reviews the standards annually, conducts research on various categories, and makes revisions as appropriate. [16] Noncompliance with these standards and all other conditions in the permits is punishable by law. [18]
When EPA first opened its doors in 1970, the agency had weak authority to protect U.S. waters, lacking the legal power to write effluent guidelines and possessing only general authority to require secondary treatment from industrial dischargers. [106] The 1969 burning Cuyahoga River had sparked national outrage; the Act grew out of it. [107]
Industrial wastewater treatment describes the processes used for treating wastewater that is produced by industries as an undesirable by-product. After treatment, the treated industrial wastewater (or effluent) may be reused or released to a sanitary sewer or to a surface water in the environment.
Effluent limits – limits used to control discharges through technology-based or water quality-based standards; Monitoring and reporting requirements – used to determine permit compliance; Special conditions – can be used to supplement effluent limits; Standard conditions – pre-established conditions that apply to all NPDES permits.
National technology-based standards apply to many industries (these standards are called "effluent guidelines"), [1]: 5-14–5-22 and to municipal sewage treatment plants. [3] Some dischargers are subject to water quality-based effluent limitations, derived from water quality standards for the adjacent water body.
For industrial categories, EPA publishes Effluent guidelines for existing sources, as well as New Source Performance Standards. [11] For sewage treatment plants, the Secondary Treatment Regulation is the national standard. [12] These standards provide a basic minimum level of treatment requirements across a category nationwide.