Pretreatment workers take samples from the industrial discharges of an area business.

The Wyoming Valley Sanitary Authority operates an approved Industrial Pretreatment Program under the direct supervision of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region III office. The program went into operation in 1986.

Currently, seventeen significant industrial users are permitted by the Authority. Of the 17, eleven are regulated as federal categorical industries, the large majority of which fall under the Metal Finishing Category. The others are significant non-categorical industries based mainly on the amount of flow discharged to the Authority’s treatment plant.

Additionally, nine industries are permitted as "potentially" significant users. These firms routinely would not impact the Authority’s treatment processes, but by nature of the material they have on hand, could impact the system in the event of an abnormal discharge.

Each of these 26 industries are required to self-monitor quarterly at a minimum, with all categorical industries required to monitor monthly,. The Authority’s pretreatment staff conducts semi-annual compliance monitoring and annual industrial inspections.

All compliance analyses are conducted by the pretreatment program’s laboratory staff. Presently the program has two full-time chemists and is overseen by a program manager. The entire staff have bachelor’s degrees in the environmental or related scientific fields.

Annually, the program inspects additional industries or commercial users in an effort to determine if they have altered their operation from the information contained in their original survey response in a manner that may require they be upgraded to significant status. To date, 129 industries have been reviewed. Inspections are also conducted on new industries to determine their classification. On the average, one new significant user is discovered annually.

The pretreatment program oversees a vigorous hauled domestic waste program. Ten area septage haulers have been permitted for discharge of strictly domestic septage at the Authority’s treatment plant. The project was initiated at the request of the state Department of Environmental Protection in 1992. During calendar year 1995, over 5.7 million gallons of septage was discharged at the Authority.

An audio-visual program was developed to explain the inner workings of the pretreatment program. This show is routinely presented to area schools and civic organizations to explain the role and need of a pretreatment program. Pretreatment staff members routinely conduct seminars for area industries to bring them up-to-date on requirements to remain in compliance.