The Clean Water Act of 1972 called for a national pretreatment program to control industrial discharges into public sewage systems. The intent of the pretreatment program is to prevent the discharge of pollutants into publicly owned treatment works which will interfere, pass through, or otherwise be incompatible with its operation.

The Suffolk County Department of Public Works Industrial Waste Unit administers a federally approved pretreatment program implementing the federal standards and protecting the County’s sewage collection system and treatment facilities.

The Industrial Pretreatment Program regulates Commercial, Industrial, and Institutional facilities discharging wastewater to the County’s publicly owned treatment plants. The program includes the following elements:

• Special Permit Connection applications are processed with pretreatment requirements assessed by onsite inspection and Engineering Report review.
• Connected facilities are issued Discharge Certification (DC) Permits authorizing a wastewater discharge to the county sewerage. The DC Permit contains requirements specific to each facility’s operation and the wastewater generated on-site.
• Inspections are conducted routinely at connected facilities. Compliance with applicable Federal, State, and Local pretreatment regulations, discharge limitations, and hazardous waste hauling requirements is evaluated.
• Sampling and laboratory analysis of wastewater generated by connected industrial facilities is performed regularly to confirm on-going compliance with discharge limitations and applicable federal pretreatment standards.
• Illegal and non -compliant discharges, sewer blockages, as well as illegal connections, are investigated and enforcement action taken where appropriate.

HELPFUL LINKS:

For information regarding Federal Categorical Industries, please refer to the USEPA website: http://water.epa.gov/scitech/wastetech/guide/industry.cfm

For information regarding Certified Commercial Laboratories you may refer to the following website: http://www.wadsworth.org/labcert/elap/comm.html

Contact Information

Directions - The Department is located in beautiful scenic Yaphank - New York, just south of the Long Island Expressway at exit 67 on Yaphank Avenue. From Sunrise Highway take exit 57 north and follow the signs for the Suffolk County offices.

Telephone: (631) 852-4160 - General Information
(631) 852-4162 - New Permit Processing

FAX: (631) 852-5674