Pretreatment Program

The City of Temple Pretreatment Program administers local, state and federal regulations to control pollutants discharged from commercial and industrial users within the City of Temple (City), which may pass through or interfere with the City's Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTW). The City's POTW consists of two wastewater treatment plants permitted to treat up to 17.5 million gallons per day, 30 lift stations, and over 460+ miles of wastewater collection pipelines. The Pretreatment Program administers and enforces the regulations in order to:

• Protect the City's wastewater collection systems, treatment plants and workers
• Allow the beneficial re-use of bio-solids
• Allot the reclamation of treated effluent for irrigation and other uses
• Maintain water quality

POTWs are designed to treat typical household wastes and biodegradable commercial and industrial wastes. It may be detrimental to the treatment process and the environment if commercial and industrial facilities discharge toxic pollutants. Industrial Users which discharge pollutants into the POTW are required to install, operate, and adequately maintain pretreatment equipment to remove pollutants that could otherwise damage, obstruct, interfere with, or pass through the POTW. Examples of such pollutants include heavy metals, cyanides, toxic organics, and acidic or basic wastes from industrial operations. Heavy metals and some organic chemicals which cannot be treated by the biological treatment process can threaten the bacteria which are necessary to the treatment process at the wastewater treatment facility.

Wastewaters from restaurants and other food service industries are often more problematic due to the prevalence of conventional pollutants such as grease, organic matter and solids. Grease can clog and overload the wastewater system. Processing these food contaminants raises the cost of treating wastewater.

The Pretreatment Program protects the wastewater treatment process and keeps costs down by working with the local businesses to minimize pollutant discharges. Activities of the City's Pretreatment Program include the review of pretreatment designs, the issuance of permits, facility inspections, monitoring of facilities (wastewater sample collection), review of industry self-monitoring reports, and enforcement activities.