Austin Water's Pretreatment Program inspects and monitors industrial wastewater sources discharging to the City's wastewater collection system and treatment plants to independently verify compliance with all applicable local, state, and federal rules and regulations pertaining to pretreatment standards and requirements. The Pretreatment Program also follows an Enforcement Response Plan & Guide to help correct the problems found that cause a violation
Conduct inspections and unannounced monitoring of:
- Significant Industrial Users (Categorical and Non-Categorical),
- remediation sites,
- chemical descaling operations,
- each load of hauled liquid waste discharged at the City's approved receiving station, and
- those construction or renovation projects that could potentially impact pretreatment device performance or discharge standard compliance.
Other monitoring and inspection activities are conducted on an as-needed basis to investigate problems or unusual conditions in the wastewater collection or treatment system. They may also be a part of an investigation involving suspicious activity or illegal dumping
Our primary concern is to correct the problems that caused a violation. The Pretreatment Program staff has developed an Enforcement Response Plan & Guide to assure that our response to any violation:
- Focuses on solving the problem that caused the violation
- Is conducted fairly and consistently
- Removes any economic advantages enjoyed by violators
- Recovers utility costs caused by the violation
- Is taken in a timely fashion
The appropriate enforcement response for any violation will depend on several factors:
- The violation's magnitude and duration
- Any effect on the publicly owned treatment works or the receiving stream
- Any injury to personnel or the public
- The compliance history of the business
- Any good faith effort demonstrated by the offender
If you have any question about any suspicious discharge to the sanitary sewer system, please contact the Pretreatment Program staff by email at IndustrialWaste@austintexas.gov or by phone at 512-972-1060. Your assistance is appreciated and your confidentiality respected.