Program Overview: What is the Pretreatment Program and why do I have to maintain a permit? This is probably the most common question asked of the Industrial Pretreatment division. To Summarize, in 1972 The Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) was passed into law by the Federal Government. The major objective as stated in the act was to restore and maintain the chemical, physical and biological integrity of the Nations waters. The EPA had the authority to issue a permit to every "point source" in the nation.

In 1977 the Federal Water Pollution control Act was amended. These amendments are also known as the Clean Water Act (CWA) The amendments require the local Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTWs) with capacities greater than 5 million gallons per day or those with significant industrial discharges to establish pretreatment programs. In other words, the administration of the Pretreatment Program was delegated from the EPA to the local level. The General Pretreatment Regulations can be found in 40CFR 403.

The Industrial Pretreatment division administers and enforces the federal pretreatment regulations and local limits for the service area of Muskogee's Pollution Control Plant. The service area encompasses the city of Muskogee and part of Muskogee County serviced by the city's Pollution Control Plant. The Industrial Pretreatment division has 12 Wastewater Discharge permits issued, 3 of the permits have categorical standards and 9 are permit of facilities deemed significant and have local limits. The Industrial Pretreatment division continuously perform inspections of new and existing facilities in the service area to determine if the have processes defined by EPA as categorical or if they discharge industrial wastewater which may be deemed significant to Muskogee's Pollution Control Plant.