Working with Businesses

The City of Post Falls Water Reclamation Facility (WRF) is designed to treat average domestic wastewaters, such as those generated by residential households.  However industrial wastewater or discharge often contain chemicals or compounds that the WRF is not designed to treat.
The Industrial Pretreatment Program (IPP) is required by federal and state regulations and is enforced through local code and permitting. This program requires adequate treatment for industrial discharge before the wastewaters enter the municipal sanitary sewer system.
The City of Post Falls IPP issues permits to industries based on their wastewater characteristics or amount of discharge. The permits require industries to pretreat their wastewater before they discharge it to the sanitary sewer system and monitor for pollutants of concern along with complying to reporting schedules and other general conditions listed in the permit.

Permitted Industrial User types include:

• Industrial User (IU) or User—A source of nondomestic waste. Any nondomestic source discharging pollutants to a Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTW).
• Significant Industrial Users (SIUs) —(a) All industrial users subject to Categorical Pretreatment Standards under 40 CFR 403.6 and 40 CFR chapter I, subchapter N; and (b) any other that (i) discharges an average of 25,000 gallons per day or more of process wastewater to the POTW (excluding sanitary, noncontact cooling and boiler blowdown wastewater); or (ii) contributes a process wastestream that makes up 5 percent or more of the average dry-weather hydraulic or organic (BOD, TSS, and such) capacity of the POTW treatment plant; or (iii) is designated as such by the Control Authority because the industrial user has a reasonable potential for adversely affecting the POTW’s operation or for violating any pretreatment standard or requirement (in accordance with 40 CFR 403.8(f)(6)) [40 CFR 403.3(v)].
• Categorial Industrial Users (CIUs)- An Industrial User subject to Categorical Pretreatment Standards or Categorical Standards.

Industrial Pretreatment Program – complete description

For more information on the National Pretreatment Program click here