Who has authority?

[Doug Dahlke]

I think I know the answer to this but want to hear from others who are doing reclaim. Who has the authority to let you dump to a customers sanitary sewer? Is permission from the customer all I need since it is their hook up or does the county authority need to approve it? The reason I ask is because when I call local counties and ask what their requirements are to dump to sanitary many don't know. I describe the material I would be discharging and I get sent from one person to the next. Can I just get the customers permission and go with it?

[MMI Enterprises]

Did you run searches yet?. It all here somewheres.

Here is thread that has so Best Practices info that various cities may be adopting along with info of what type entities might be in charge where yer at..
Likely is county sanitation dept. or a special devision..
Claiming to reclaim or just let it runoff?

[Ron Musgraves]

All citys will not allow discharge unless pre-treatment has been completed.

You will find the answer is no in most all cases. I do know a few that have been said on TGS that its ok to dump.

I have even heard ridiculous remarks like take it to the carwash and dump it.

Lots of false information, even from your local goverments.

Its all new info and most do not have the answers.

[Tracy Handl]

Doug, You bear most of the responsibility for what is going in that sanitary sewer system. Yes, you will need the permission of the hiring agent. (some job managers may not know the rules, and won't care to, so they my just make you haul off-site - effectivly covering their own butt) After that permission, you will need to have an idea of just what you are putting down there. The best thing to do, (according to Gwinnett county dept of sewer and water) is to have a reasonable representation of wash water that represents your typical washes tested by your county dept of water. Then keep that test result with you. If you get checked by anyone, you can show the test and use it as a representaion of what you expect is going down that system. If your current job seems much different from your represented test, then it's a good idea to have it tested again. Ultimately you bear the responsibility for whatever you put down that system, but having some back-up data can't hurt.

[Ron Musgraves]

Tracy, The only person actually responsible for damage do to improper disposal is the property owner. He will be ultimately responsible for any problems, of course the contractor will be included but he will go to jail first.

You see we are dealing with hazordous waste not wash water.

People need to realize that handling haz mat is serious, when your removing haz. materials from propertys you need the proper licensed and permits.

[MMI Enterprises]

So Ron ..based on yer first post I was going to ask..

.are you saying that even though apparently permits and processes are available to be approved some places(see link) that they all gonna make you pretreat anyways?.. What sense in having goal in putting it in there anyway then could be asked.
Sounds more and more like best option is to just pretreat and then put it to land or take to whatever hazzardous waste water facility and pay to dump it.
Perhaps myth but I heard it said somewhere that something like 1k gal. per year per acre could be put on land... that sound right, or that gonna depend on where yer at and what the wash has in it?

What yer saying in second post seems about what I heard before. The fine is like 10k min. to the property owner last I heard for storm dumping but unsure on sewer. Also isn't there a form floating around recommended that you can have property owner sign off on that they know your putting it in their sewer drains and that they are the ones responsable with the county?..

[Ron Musgraves]

often improper permits an misconception.

you can wash a car on a pad a collect solids .. simply discharge the water on property.

no off property discharge. walMART GOT IN TROUBLE FOR THIS. has anyone asked if anyone is doing walmart?

has anyone asked them about the new program?

anyone heard of the companys cleaning them currently ?

[MMI Enterprises]

yes onsight is one thing and off is another. Probably should consider one at a time....
Who has sewer permit, what can be said of it like what hoops they making ya jump through, how much it cost, they make ya do paperwork with property owner or is that just a made up thing for a washers protection?

[PPC]

I know the guy that was doing them here locally I think he had to stop because of reclaiming know one here has that equipent because it is not enforced here I think he said a company named fleetwash was doing them

[PPC]

he said they will be coming from out of town

[John Doherty]

Once water runs through your pump it becomes 'process water'.

It doesn't matter if you use chems, heat, or what you clean, as soon as it goes through your pump it needs to be dealt with as a pollutant, period.

Once you accept that, you need to think about where it goes.

Off property discharge is what you are trying to avoid.

Dump it on the ground next to a river and it can seep into the river and it goes 'off property'. Let it go into a storm drain, it's usually the same thing, you need to know where the storm drain goes.

Dump it on the ground and there is no conveyance for it to go 'off property' and you are generally ok (need to filter most solids and hydrocarbons).

Sanitary sewer means that the water goes directly to a waste treatment facility, you usually need their permissin to do this. They will want solids and hydrocarbons filtered too.

I've heard stories of manufacturing cos dumping chems in their sanitary sewer and killing off all the microbes at waste treatment plants, not good.

Your best bet is to prevent your water from going off property, diversion, reclaim etc.

If it does go off property you need to find out where it goes and deal with it accordingly.

[Ron Musgraves]

Originally Posted by PPC1

I know the guy that was doing them here locally I think he had to stop because of reclaiming know one here has that equipent because it is not enforced here I think he said a company named fleetwash was doing them

thats fleets and you recover 100% of the time.

[Ron Musgraves]

Originally Posted by NEWHEIGHTS

Once water runs through your pump it becomes 'process water'.

It doesn't matter if you use chems, heat, or what you clean, as soon as it goes through your pump it needs to be dealt with as a pollutant, period.

Once you accept that, you need to think about where it goes.

Off property discharge is what you are trying to avoid.

Dump it on the ground next to a river and it can seep into the river and it goes 'off property'. Let it go into a storm drain, it's usually the same thing, you need to know where the storm drain goes.

Dump it on the ground and there is no conveyance for it to go 'off property' and you are generally ok (need to filter most solids and hydrocarbons).

Sanitary sewer means that the water goes directly to a waste treatment facility, you usually need their permissin to do this. They will want solids and hydrocarbons filtered too.

I've heard stories of manufacturing cos dumping chems in their sanitary sewer and killing off all the microbes at waste treatment plants, not good.

Your best bet is to prevent your water from going off property, diversion, reclaim etc.

If it does go off property you need to find out where it goes and deal with it accordingly.

John, almost perfect answers. Two things, most parking lots dont have strom drains in the sense you refering. I know you know this because you ad where do they go? Not off property if built after 1984.

John we should talk i have never seen anyone with and answer so close to the truth.

Maybe we are making headway on the net.

[newlook]

Very good answer John and it made sense

By using diversion and evaporation is probably the most econimical approach on the market today for washers! This is most used for residential accounts.

Commercial...thats another story.

Great thread!

[MMI Enterprises]

Info please on the 1984 thingy.
Would like to know what situations call for places to have onsight sumps. As talked about before I assume all the Walmart places are setup now but what about all these suburbia strip mall places that happen to sometimes have places like walmart or the food places set out in parking lot? Seems like they storm drains that head straight to canals at first glance.