Industrial Waste

Industrial Waste Control Section

A function of the Monroe County Department of Environmental Services (DES) Industrial Waste Control Section is to prevent harmful discharges to the sewer system. If they occur, these discharges can adversely affect DES wastewater collection and treatment facilities (and their employees) and the local environmental and public health. Prevention is accomplished, in part, with wastewater discharge limits set by the United States Environmental Protection Agency through its Pretreatment Program and set by the County for additional pollutants of concern. Monroe County’s environmental laws and limits are written in the Sewer Use Law. The purposes of the Sewer Use Law are as follows:

  • Control and regulate discharges into the county sanitary, storm and/or combined sewers and their tributaries;
  • Prohibit excessive volumes of flow and the discharge of various listed substances/materials;
  • Prohibit and/or regulate discharges (industrial or other) that would cost more to treat than normal sewage;
  • Require the pretreatment of discharges if they could harm the sewer system, interfere with the treatment process or pass through the system untreated or partially treated thereby exceeding discharge limits;
  • Protect public health and prevent nuisances;
  • Provide cooperation between involved government agencies; and,
  • Give the county the authority and procedure to make regulations, issue permits, conduct investigations, hold hearings, issue decisions, orders and opinions.

Sewer Use Law Of Monroe County Amended

Effective January 1, 2016, DES enacted amendments to the Sewer Use Law to reflect changes to United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) general pretreatment regulations, New York Department of Environmental Conservation regulations and Monroe County regulations and procedures that have occurred since the Law was first enacted.

The modifications to the Law will not change the pollutant loadings accepted at Monroe County Wastewater Treatment Facilities.

Highlights of the amended Law include:

  • All sections have been reorganized to closely follow the EPA Model Pretreatment Ordinance.
  • The Law and separate Rules and Regulations have been consolidated.
  • The Law now describes specific procedures for obtaining permits including: application, renewal, modification, closure and revocation.
  • The Law clarifies all reporting and signatory requirements for permittees.
  • The previous separate Stormwater Ordinance is now one Article in the Law.
  • Maximum administrative fines have been increased from $10,000 to $25,000 to be consistent with federal guidelines with added language to allow the Director to recover operation and maintenance costs incurred due to negligent or accidental actions of any User.
  • The calculation and computation of the sewer surcharge fee has been removed and placed in the scale of charges to allow future updates to the computation without modifying the Law. The scale of charges is reviewed and approved annually by the Monroe County Legislature.

Permits

The following applications for permits issued by the Industrial Waste Control Section are available on-line.

Additional Programs

The Section also operates the Household Hazardous Waste collection program to further protect the environment from hazardous wastes. Qualified small businesses (Conditionally Exempt Small Quantity Generators) can utilize the facility to dispose of hazardous waste.

 

Top