Queen Creek Industrial Waste Survey: what Town Code 16-4-15 and 16-4-17 mean for a commercial building permit

The Town's Building Safety page, "When is a Permit Required?", lists commercial projects among the work that needs a permit, then adds a paragraph on sewer discharge. It quotes Town Code 16-4-15: "No person shall discharge or cause to be discharged at any entry point into the public sewer system" substances or discharges that can cause interference or other health related concerns. It then says that to "comply with the categorical standards, pretreatment requirements and all other requirements" of 16-4-17, "Industrial Users are required to complete an Industrial Waste Survey as part of the Building Permit Process."

The page closes with the practical instruction: "Please call 480-358-3003 to find out if you need a permit for your specific project."

• Industrial User: a business that discharges wastewater to the public sewer other than ordinary household sewage. The Town page does not define the term or set a size cutoff. Other Valley cities do, and the comparison below shows how.
• Industrial Waste Survey: a survey the Town page ties to the pretreatment requirements of 16-4-17. The page names the survey but does not publish the form, its contents or who reviews it.
• Categorical standards: federal discharge standards that apply to specific industries. The Town Code refers to them in 16-4-17.
• Pretreatment: a device or process, such as an interceptor or separator, that removes pollutants before wastewater reaches the sewer.

The survey requirement applies to industrial users. The Town page does not list the businesses that count. Restaurants, car washes, laundries and shops that produce oily, chemical or high strength wastewater are the kinds of users other Valley cities regulate, but this page does not say whether Queen Creek treats them as industrial users. The only reliable answer is the Town's, from the number above.

A brewery tenant improvement. The tenant plans floor drains, a wash-down area and a grain and yeast waste stream. The architect files for a commercial building permit. Because the Town page places the survey inside the building permit process, whether the brewery is an industrial user is worth asking before plan submittal, not after.

A dental office. No manufacturing, only sinks and a suction system. The Town page gives no cutoff that clears it, so one call to Building Safety is the way to get a yes or no on the survey.

The edge case: a shell building with no tenant. The owner pulls a permit for the shell and lets the future tenant handle the rest. If the future tenant is an industrial user, the survey is part of the permit process for that work, so do not assume the shell permit settled the sewer question. Ask the Town when the tenant is known.

1. 1Describe your process in writing: what goes down each drain, in what volume, and how often.
2. 2Call Building Safety at 480-358-3003 and ask whether your project counts as an industrial user and whether an Industrial Waste Survey is required.
3. 3If it is, ask how the survey is submitted and what the Town needs to see with the building permit application.
4. 4Ask whether pretreatment (an interceptor or separator) will be required, and design the drains around it before the plans are filed.
5. 5Keep the Town's answer in writing with your permit file.

• "The survey is only for factories." The Town page says industrial users, without a size or industry list. Confirm with the Town rather than assume.
• "It is a separate agency." In Queen Creek the survey is described as part of the building permit process.
• "Every Valley city works the same way." Mesa sorts users into Class I, II and III and issues a discharge permit to Class I and II, within 60 days of a complete application, good for up to five years. Phoenix defines a Significant Industrial User by process wastewater, including companies discharging an average of 25,000 gallons a day. Queen Creek's page gives no such cutoffs.
• "The Town page tells me everything." It names the survey and gives a phone number, but it does not publish the form, the deadline or the cutoff for an industrial user. The phone number is the source of truth.