VanLare Wastewater Treatment Facility - EPA Standards
Although phosphate is one of the most frequently monitored
toxic metals, the EPA also has laws requiring that regulatory
tests be done for 65 other toxic metals. These laws stemmed from
The Clean Water Act (formerly known as The Federal Water Pollution
Control Act) which was passed on June 26, 1978. This act requires
everything that the plant discharges be pretreated and tested.
With these new standards, the EPA has limited the quantity of
pollutants that plants are allowed to discharge.
The new standards primarily prohibit five general pollutants:
- substances which create fire or explosion hazard
- substances which cause corrosive or structural damage
- solid pollutants in amounts which will cause obstruction
to the flow of the operation of public or private waters
- any sludge discharge of such high volume or strength
as to cause interference
- heat in amounts which will inhibit biological activity in
public or private waters
The EPA requires monthly reports of daily testings and maximum
flows of the plant's effluent.