Industrial wastewater is regulated under the federal CWA (33 USC 1251 to 1387), which provides for modifications of its wastewater discharge standards in exceptional cases. These modifications are called variances (40 CFR 124.2). Facilities discharging wastewater may request variances from general industry pretreatment standards for discharges into publicly owned treatment works (POTW) or from NPDES effluent limitations for discharges from individual facilities into surface waters (40 CFR 122).
Very specific effluent and industrial wastewater discharge standards have to be met by an applicant before a variance may be granted. The applicant should be aware of the major types of wastewater variances and the basic requirements for each before submitting such requests to the appropriate state agency, EPA regional office, or EPA headquarters (40 CFR 124.62). Several different variances are available.
What is a wastewater variance? A wastewater variance is a less-stringent component of a regulation that can be requested by a permitted discharger such as an industrial facility. If approved by the regulatory authority, the variance is usually incorporated as a permit modification.
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The EPA Library has more helpful environmental compliance resources like these:
POTWs - publicly owned treatment works
variance procedures for industrial wastewater
Guidance Documents - Thermal discharges
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