Encyclopedia of Environmental Science and Engineering, Volume I and II

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INDUSTRIAL WASTE MANAGEMENT

INTRODUCTION

Industries produce large volumes of wastes that may include

a wide variety of chemicals containing most toxic pollutants.

It has been estimated that there are over 300,000 water-using

factories in the United States.^1 As the population grows, the

need for manufactured goods will also increase. As a result,

the volume of industrial wastes is expected to grow faster

than that of municipal wastes. Some of the industrial wastes

can be treated jointly in municipal wastewater treatment

plants, but others must be pretreated at the source.

In recent years, industrial wastewater management has

undergone vast changes. Under legislative mandates and

technological advancement, industries are recognizing the

need and benefits of using water for several different pur-

poses in descending order of required cleanliness before

final treatment and release to the environment. This multi-

ple, cascade, or sequential reuse of water minimizes the need

for new water supplies, and reduces and concentrates wastes.

A benefit of water and residual reuse may be an economical

closed-loop, a zero discharge system that requires minimum

make-up water to function.

Presented here is an overview of industrial pollu-

tion control legislation and standards, Standard Industrial

Classification, industrial waste survey and monitoring, and

wastewater treatment systems for selected industries.

INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION CONTROL

LEGISLATION AND STANDARDS

Water Pollution Control Legislation

Although water pollution legislative history in the United

States had its beginning with the Refuse Act of 1899, the

Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972 (PL

92-500) marked the greatest commitment to eliminating pol-

lutants in the nation’s lakes, rivers, and streams.^2 The following

is a summary of the last 40 years of water pollution control

legislation enacted by the Congress of the Unites States.

• Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1948


• Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1956


• Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments
  of 1961


• Water Quality Act of 1965
  
  
  • Clean Water Restoration Act of 1966
  
  
  • Water Quality Improvement Act of 1970
  
  
  • Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments
    of 1972
  
  
  • Clean Water Act of 1977
  
  
  • Clean Water Act Amendments of 1980
  
  
  • Clean Water Act Amendments of 1981
  
  
  • Water Quality Act of 1987
  
  
  
  

The 1972 and 1977 laws are collectively known as the Clean

Water Acts. 3,4 They clearly express a serious national inter-

est in water quality and reflect a strong public commitment

to end water pollution. This legislation establishes deadlines

for terminating pollution, enforcement provisions by federal,

state, and local governments, and a greater federal degree of

control over the quality of the nation’s waters. The discharge

of pollutants into the nation’s waters is prohibited unless a

permit is obtained under the National Pollutant Discharge

Elimination System ( NPDES ). There are about 50,000 indus-

trial and 16,000 municipal NPDES permits at the present

time.^5 These permits are issued by the states and must be

renewed every 5 years. The NPDES permit records effluent

limits and spells out requirements for monitoring and record-

ing. Restrictions on amounts of specific pollutants that a given

facility may discharge into surface waters are, in general,

based on national effluent guidelines. Industry has responded

positively to the mandates of the law in meeting the discharge

limits based on the best available treatment technologies as

defined by EPA. Under the NPDES permitting program efflu-

ent limitations are established for toxic pollutants for various

industrial categories. In a similar manner, industrial pretreat-

ment standards are being developed for all pollutants that are

discharged into the publicly owned treatment works (POTW).

Under the pretreatment regulations, two types of federal pre-

treatment standards are established: (1) prohibited discharges

and (2) categorical standards.

Prohibited discharges to sewers or POTWs are those that

cause a fire or explosion hazard, corrosion, obstruction, and

slug discharges and heat discharges. Categorical standards

are developed for those pollutants that are incompatible, that

is, those that interfere with the operation of or pass through

POTWs, or contaminate the sludge and other residues from

POTWs.

Substances considered for categorical standards are those

for which there is substantial evidence of carcinogenicity,

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