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  • Austin Water
  • Dental Offices Discharge and Report Requirements

Dental Offices Discharge and Report Requirements

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has adopted pretreatment standards and recordkeeping and reporting requirements to reduce mercury discharges from dental offices into publicly owned treatment works (POTWs). These requirements are codified in Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 441. Dental offices that receive wastewater service from Austin Water directly or indirectly must comply, including submitting a One-Time Compliance Report (OTCR) to Austin Water to demonstrate compliance.

Applicability

A dental office must comply with these regulations if it places or removes amalgam and discharges wastewater to a POTW. Compliance includes operations and maintenance (O&M) standards, best management practices (BMPs) and submission of a completed OTCR to Austin Water.

A dental office is exempt from the amalgam separator installation requirement and associated O&M and BMP requirements if it meets any of the following conditions:

  • The office exclusively practices one or more of the following dental specialties: oral pathology, oral and maxillofacial radiology, oral and maxillofacial surgery, orthodontics, periodontics or prosthodontics
  • Wastewater discharges from a mobile unit operated by the dental office
  • The office does not discharge any amalgam process wastewater to a POTW — for example, if all dental amalgam process wastewater is collected for transfer to a centralized waste treatment facility as defined in 40 CFR Part 437. This means the amalgam separator is not plumbed to the sanitary sewer. This exemption does not apply to solids containers sent for disposal or recycling.
  • The office does not place dental amalgam and does not remove amalgam except in limited emergency or unplanned circumstances

An exempt dental office must still submit an OTCR to certify its exemption. The O&M and BMP section of the OTCR may be skipped. However, if an exempt office does install an amalgam separator, the OTCR must be submitted with all sections completed.

Compliance Requirements
  1. Install, operate and maintain amalgam separator(s) and removal device(s).
  2. Implement the following BMPs:
  3. Waste amalgam from chair-side traps, screens, vacuum pump filters, dental tools, cuspidors or collection devices must not be discharged to a POTW.
  4. Dental unit water lines, chair-side traps and vacuum lines must not be cleaned with oxidizing or acidic cleaners — including bleach, chlorine, iodine and peroxide — that have a pH below 6 or above 8.
  5. Submit a completed OTCR to Austin Water. The dental office, or an agent or representative, must maintain the OTCR and make it available for inspection in physical or electronic form for as long as the office is in operation or until ownership is transferred.
OTCR Deadlines

Existing offices (opened on or before July 14, 2017):

  1. Comply with the regulations by July 14, 2020.
  2. Submit OTCR by Oct. 12, 2020.

If ownership is transferred after July 15, 2020, the new owner has 90 days from the transfer date to submit a new OTCR to Austin Water.

New offices (opened after July 14, 2017):

  1. Implement the requirements immediately upon opening.
  2. Submit OTCR within 90 days of the start of wastewater discharge.
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