Obtaining & Renewing a Discharge Permit

Discharging industrial wastewater without a valid permit is a violation of Chapter 15-10 of the Austin City Code. Refer to the List of Active Wastewater Discharge Permits to verify that your business is properly permitted.

If you do not have a required permit, please fill out an application and contact the Pretreatment Program office as soon as possible. Each separately permitted source is considered to be an industrial user. The process for obtaining a discharge permit and the type of permit application required vary for different industrial users:

• General Industrial Users
• Significant Industrial Users, Categorical and Non-Categorical
• Remediation Sites
• Chemical Descaling Operations
• Liquid Waste Haulers
• Utility Piping Systems
• Waste from Wastewater Treatment Plants
• Other Political Subdivisions

Permit fees are assessed based on the class of industrial user and applicable analytical requirements. Fee collection is now being conducted via the standard billing system for all City utility services.

All General Industrial User (GIU) Wastewater Discharge Permits are renewed automatically annually in December for the next calendar year (January-December) when the customer is still active at the end of the year.

The annual Industrial Wastewater Discharge Permit is billed monthly through the City of Austin’s utility bill. This fee is located on the line item “Monthly Discharge Permit Fee” under the section titled “Wastewater Service” of the utility bill.

To print your new Wastewater Discharge Permit, after the beginning of the new year, simply:

1. Click this General Industrial User Wastewater Discharge Permit link.
    
2. Where prompted (indicated by the red box in the example below), enter the permit number for your business. This can be found from any of the below resources:
   • A prior Wastewater Discharge Permit
   • The courtesy notification sent out by the Special Services Division each December
   • List of Active Industrial Wastewater Discharge Permits

Example:

3. Click the green “Submit” box to and the Wastewater Discharge Permit will appear underneath with the option to “Print this Permit”.

You may only print one Wastewater Discharge Permit at a time. If your business has multiple permits, repeat the steps above for each permit.

If you are unable to access or print your permit, the Pretreatment staff will be happy to assist you with the process or provide 
you with a printed copy through fax or regular mail.