Industrial User Permit

Background

In 1978, General Pretreatment Regulations (40 CFR 403) were developed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as part of the National Pretreatment Program. These regulations control pollutants from industries that can negatively impact, pass through, or interfere with Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTW) treatment processes. In Kentucky, oversight of the Pretreatment Program has been delegated to the Kentucky Division of Water (KDOW). KDOW regulates municipalities that own and operate wastewater treatment plants through the Kentucky Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (KPDES) program. The Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government (LFUCG) is one of these municipalities as they own and operate two treatment facilities. In accordance with their KDOW issued KPDES permit, the LFUCG operates a Pretreatment Program and issues Industrial User Pretreatment Permits to facilities that discharge industrial wastewater or significant flows to LFUCG treatment plants.

The Permit

The University discharges wastewater through the sanitary sewer system to the LFUCG Town Branch Wastewater Treatment Plant as authorized by its Industrial User Discharge Permit issued by the LFUCG. LFUCG permits are issued for a three-year period and contain discharge limitations, monitoring requirements, and reporting requirements specific to each permittee. To ensure compliance, LFUCG’s Division of Water Quality conducts compliance monitoring on all of its industrial users a minimum of once per year and performs inspections on each Significant Industrial User annually.

As a permittee, the University is authorized to discharge wastewater to the city’s sanitary sewer system through specific outfalls. These outfalls are required to be monitored on a semiannual basis for specific constituents. A list of these constituents can be found in the University’s Industrial User Permit. Flow is calculated for each outfall based on domestic water usage and reported to the city along with the monitoring results. These results must meet the discharge limits that apply to all industrial wastes discharged to the LFUCG sanitary sewer system.