Improving Industrial Pretreatment: Success Factors, Challenges, and Project Ideas

Prepared while at Industrial Economics, for the Office of Policy Planning and Evaluation, US EPA, October 1996. Pat Bradley of the Office of Water and Robert Benson of the Office of Policy Planning and Evaluation served as project managers. Also available through EPA.

Site visits to 14 publicly-owned treatment works (POTWs) across three states provided the primary material for this report. Facilities visited included a mix of large and small plants, as well as those considered to be top- and bottom-performers. Interview teams comprised contractors, EPA headquarters and regional staff. While the focus of the analysis was on pretreatment, the interview teams met with staff from a mix of functional areas to gain a broader perspective on how pretreatment functions could be better integrated within the POTW. The report provides a summary of common themes that arose in the interviews and identifies a number of potential federal projects that interviewees felt would be particularly valuable. Many of these (such as this training course and this guidance on POTW cost accounting) have since been implemented by EPA.