EPA Orders Metalast to Revamp How Company Pretreats Wastewater
The U.S Environmental Protection Agency has ordered Metalast International, Inc. to comply with federal Clean Water Act (CWA) requirements for the company's wastewater discharges to a sewer system in Nevada and its municipal wastewater treatment plant.
The EPA has required the company's plant in Minden, Nev., to self-monitor and change its rinse systems to more efficient ones.
"Pretreatment of industrial waste reduces pollutants entering our waterways," said Alexis Strauss, director of the Water Division in the EPA's Pacific Southwest region. "Metalast International and other industries are responsible for complying with pretreatment control standards, to protect the local sewer system, the wastewater treatment plant, and the people who work in these areas."
The violations were discovered during a routine CWA industrial user inspection conducted jointly by EPA and Douglas County. EPA determined that the facility is subject to federal pretreatment standards, including pollutant limits for metal finishers. The facility was not complying with Clean Water Act requirements for self-monitoring and reporting. EPA also found that the facility is using an excessive amount of process water. Corrective actions must be complete by the end of February 2009, and self-monitoring ends on Oct. 31, 2009.
Metalast International, Inc. operates the Metalast Tech Center in Minden, Nev., that provides anodizing and chemical conversion coating solutions as a consulting service. The facility discharges process-related wastewater into the Douglas County sewer system. Metalast International, Inc. began operations at this facility in 1996.
Federal pretreatment standards prohibit using dilution as a substitute for treatment to achieve compliance with federal pretreatment standards. Nevada is authorized to implement most aspects of the federal Clean Water Act programs, however, the implementation and enforcement of the pretreatment program remains under EPA's jurisdiction.
For more information, visit http://www.epa.gov/region09/water/pretreatment/compliance.html