City of Covington Pretreatment Program Objective
The objective of the Pretreatment Program is to prevent the introduction of pollutants that would interfere with the treatment plant’s operation, pass through the plant and interfere with the aquatic life of the receiving waters, or adversely affect worker health and safety. The program meets this objective by continuously evaluating the wastewater of new and existing facilities, issuing wastewater discharge permits and monitoring permitted industries by regularly sampling wastewater discharge and conducting comprehensive facility inspections.
National Pretreatment Program
The Clean Water Act of 1972 sought to restore and preserve our nation’s waterways by eliminating discharges of pollutants. As a component of the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permitting Program, the Pretreatment Program was formed to address discharges from industries to publicly owned treatment works (POTWs). Under Pretreatment Program regulations, industries must meet certain limits for pollutants in their wastewater. These regulations ensure that heavy discharges and toxic pollutants from industries are not discharged to the POTWs and, in turn, possibly to the receiving stream.