Pretreatment Program: Routine Inspections, Monitoring and Enforcement
Austin Water's Pretreatment Program inspects and monitors industrial wastewater sources that discharge to the City's wastewater collection system and treatment plants. The goal is to independently verify compliance with all applicable local, state and federal rules and regulations governing pretreatment standards.
Routine Inspections and Monitoring
Austin Water conducts 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
- Construction or renovation projects that could affect pretreatment device performance or discharge standard compliance
Additional monitoring and inspections are conducted as needed to investigate problems or unusual conditions in the wastewater collection or treatment system, including investigations of suspicious activity or illegal dumping.
Enforcement
Our primary concern is to correct the problems that cause a violation. The Pretreatment Program follows an Enforcement Response Plan and Guide to ensure that our response to any violation:
- Focuses on solving the problem that caused the violation
- Is conducted fairly and consistently
- Removes any economic advantage gained by the violator
- Recovers utility costs caused by the violation
- Is taken in a timely manner
The appropriate enforcement response depends on several factors, including the violation's magnitude and duration, any effect on the treatment works or receiving stream, any injury to personnel or the public, the compliance history of the business and any good-faith effort demonstrated by the offender.
Report a Suspicious Discharge
To report a suspicious discharge to the sanitary sewer system, contact the Pretreatment Program:
Phone: 512-972-1060, option 5
Email: IndustrialWaste@austintexas.gov
Reports are kept confidential.