Do you need an industrial waste discharge permit in Surprise?

The section opens "In addition to all other requirements, each industrial user shall," and the first duty is to "Obtain an industrial waste discharge permit from the city." It adds a trigger for change: "Any person intending to commence any new industrial discharge not already allowed pursuant to an existing industrial waste discharge permit, shall first obtain a new or an amended permit, as applicable, from the city prior to initiating such discharge."

The other duties, in order:

• comply fully with the permit's requirements and conditions;
• provide all pretreatment needed to meet the categorical standards and the article's other requirements;
• keep a record of the dates and times of all industrial discharges and their nature, concentration and volume;
• give the city the self-monitoring reports and notices the user must send to any other authority;
• submit "to the city, quarterly, a report containing results of self-monitoring and any other information relevant to compliance"; and
• keep those records for "a minimum of three years from the date of monitoring activity."

Section 58-321 supplies the terms. Permits are issued for no more than five years, are nontransferable, are revocable by the city, and are "Issued within 60 days of application or deemed to be denied." Conditions can include effluent limits, monitoring and sampling, reporting, fees, slug control plans and emergency response plans.

• Industrial user: under 58-275 it includes any nonresidential user that discharges more than the equivalent strength of 25,000 gallons per day of domestic wastes, and any nonresidential user whose waste "potentially could be discharged to the POTW which would be subject to any categorical standard or pretreatment requirements."
• POTW: the code defines it as "the publicly owned treatment works and the connecting sewer collection system" that the city owns or operates, in whole or in part.
• Categorical standards: the code defines them as EPA standards that apply to a specific category of industrial user and are published in 40 CFR 401 to 471. The section's own note points to 40 CFR 403.12 and 40 CFR 136.
• SIU (significant industrial user): a defined subset, and 58-321 says "All SIUs will be issued an industrial waste discharge permit." Other industrial users may be issued one if their discharge "causes or has the reasonable potential to cause harm."

Industrial users under the 58-275 definition. The city's Industrial Pretreatment page lists industries including food processing, laundries, hospitals, metal finishing and electroplating. The code does not say whether a restaurant with a 58-306 grease interceptor is an industrial user. That is a question for the city. A household is not covered: the first two clauses of the definition are about nonresidential users.

A food processor adds a second production line. The new line adds a discharge the existing permit does not cover. Section 58-322 says the new discharge needs a new or amended permit before it starts, not after the first batch.

A laundry moves into a vacant building. The city's list names laundries. The owner starts by asking Water Resource Management about the Pretreatment Permit Survey that the city's page mentions.

The edge case: a plant that discharges nothing industrial. The city's page says a Zero Discharger can be issued a Zero Discharge Permit after a survey. That is itself a permit, and the city decides who gets one.

1. 1Describe what drains from the building: process water, cooling water, washdown and sanitary flow. The code defines "industrial waste" as liquid waste from an industrial or manufacturing process, including cooling water.
2. 2Call Water Resource Management at 623-222-6000 and ask whether your facility is an industrial user.
3. 3If it is, ask for the application form. The code says the application contains "such information as the city may request."
4. 4Plan the pretreatment and sampling equipment before you build. Under 58-305 the city reviews pretreatment plans for building code compliance, and "all appropriate permits shall be obtained."
5. 5Install a control manhole if the city requires one. Section 58-307 puts that on the owner, with an easement dedicated to the city.
6. 6Calendar the quarterly report and keep three years of sampling records.

• Assuming a permit is for big factories only. The 25,000 gallon test is one clause of the definition. Clause (2) reaches any nonresidential user whose waste would be subject to pretreatment requirements.
• Treating the permit as permanent. It runs up to five years and is revocable.
• Assuming approved plans end the obligation. Section 58-305 says approval and inspection "shall not relieve the industrial user" from the article's requirements.
• Reading silence as approval. A permit is "Issued within 60 days of application or deemed to be denied."

The rule is Surprise Municipal Code Sec. 58-322 on Municode, with 58-321 beside it. This is an explanation, and the code text and the city's permit conditions govern.