Drain Disposal

The University’s Industrial User Permit, local ordinances, along with state and federal environmental regulations prohibit certain materials from being disposed into the sanitary sewer system. Based on these prohibitions, at no time may any hazardous waste be disposed in the University’s sanitary sewer system. Unless specifically approved, all chemical products, paints, dyes, lawn care products, maintenance products, and oil are prohibited from drain disposal.

LFUCG Code of Ordinances (Article V. Section 16-43) governs substances that cannot be discharged into public sewer. Based on these regulations, the following may not be discharged into the University’s sanitary sewer system:

• Any liquid having a temperature higher than one hundred fifty (150) degrees Fahrenheit or which will inhibit biological activity in the POTW treatment plant resulting in interference, but in no case wastewater with a temperature at the introduction into the POTW which exceeds one hundred four (104) degrees Fahrenheit unless the POTW treatment plant is designed to accommodate such temperatures.
   
• Any water or waste containing nonemulsified fats, wax, grease or oils, in excess of one hundred (100) mg/l or containing substances which may solidify or become viscous at temperatures between thirty-two (32) degrees and one hundred fifty (150) degrees Fahrenheit.
   
• Any gasoline, benzene, kerosene, hexene, naphtha, fuel oil or other solid or gas, which by reason of their nature or quantity are, or may be, sufficient either alone or by interaction with other substances to cause fires or explosions or be injurious in any way to the waste water system. At no time shall two (2) successive readings on an explosion hazard meter, at the point of discharge into the waste water system, be more than fifteen (15) percent nor any single reading more than twenty (20) percent of the lower explosive limit (L.E.L.).
   
• Any garbage that has not been properly shredded.
   
• Any ashes, cinders, sand, mud, straw, shavings, metal, glass, rags, feathers, animal hair, animal parts, whole blood, paunch manure, tar, plastics, wood or any solid or viscous substance capable of causing obstructions to the flow in sewers or other interference with the proper operation of the sewerage works.
   
• Any waters or wastes containing strong acid iron pickling wastes or concentrated plating solutions whether neutralized or not.
   

• Any water or wastes containing chemical constituents and/or similar objectionable or toxic substances that exceed the following limits:
   

  Town Branch Discharge Limits
  Parameter	Limit
  pH	5.5 – 11.5 SU
  Arsenic	0.95 mg/L
  Cadmium	0.009 mg/L
  Chromium (Total)	2.77 mg/L
  Chromium (Hexavalent)	0.34 mg/L
  Copper	0.42 mg/L
  Cyanide (Total)	0.18 mg/L
  Lead	0.24 mg/L
  Mercury	0.006 mg/L
  Nickel	2.39 mg/L
  Selenium	0.26 mg/L
  Silver	0.49 mg/L
  Zinc	3.24 mg/L

  
   

• Any water or wastes exerting an excessive chlorine requirement.
   
• Any waters or waters containing phenols or other taste or odor producing substances in such concentrations exceeding limits which may be established by the director, water pollution control, as necessary, to meet the requirements of state, federal or other public agencies of jurisdiction for such discharge to the receiving waters.
   
• Any radioactive wastes or isotopes of such half-life or concentration as may exceed the following limits:
  1. Gross beta activity shall not exceed one thousand (1,000) picocuries per liter.
  2. Activity from dissolved strontium 90 shall not exceed ten (10) picocuries per liter.
  3. Activity from dissolved alpha emitters shall not exceed three (3) picocuries per liter.
      
• Materials which exert or cause:
  1. Unusual concentrations of inert suspended solids (such as but not limited to fuller's earth, lime slurries and lime residues) or of dissolved solids (such as but not limited to sodium chloride and sodium sulfate).
  2. Excessive discoloration (such as but not limited to dye wastes and vegetable tanning solutions)
  3. Unusual BOD, chemical oxygen demand or chlorine requirements in such quantities as to constitute a significant load on the sewage treatment plant.
  4. Unusual volume of flow or concentration of wastes constituting slugs, as defined.
      
• Waters or wastes containing substances which are not amenable to treatment or reduction by the wastewater treatment processes employed, or are amenable to treatment only to such degree that the sewage treatment plant effluent cannot meet the requirements of other agencies having jurisdiction over discharge to the receiving waters.
   
• Any water exceeding pH limits or having any other corrosive property capable of causing damage or hazard to structures, equipment, and personnel of the sewerage works.
   
• Any water or waste containing a toxic or poisonous substance in sufficient quantity to injure or interfere with any waste water treatment process, constitute a hazard to humans or animals or create hazards in the receiving waters of the sewage treatment plant.
   
• Any waste or wastewater classified as a hazardous waste by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) without, at least, a sixty-day prior notification and approval of such discharge to the director, division of sanitary sewers. This notification must include the name of the waste, EPA hazardous waste number, type of discharge, volume/mass of discharge, and time of occurrence. The director, division of sanitary sewers, may deny or condition this discharge at any time.
   
• Any noxious or malodorous gas or substance capable of creating a public nuisance.
   
• Any pollutants with a closed cup flashpoint of less than 140 degrees Fahrenheit (60 degrees Centigrade).

Materials approved for drain disposal include:

• Floor stripper and wax that has been used and was prepared in accordance with the manufacturer’s directions.
• Wash water from the cleaning of latex paint equipment, but not the unused paint.
• Buffers and non-hazardous liquid media that has no other underlying hazardous constituent such as heavy metals, flammable, or chlorinated solvents.
• Certain disinfectants (check with the Environmental Quality Management Department for the specific disinfectant used).
• Solutions having a pH of between 5.5 and 11.5 that also do not have any other hazardous constituents and that were generated as part of the operating process.

No material should ever be disposed in the sanitary sewer at any time that is not listed above or that has not been specifically approved for drain disposal by the Environmental Quality Management Department.

To seek approval to dispose of a substance via the sanitary sewer or trash you will need to submit a Chemical Disposal Request Form.

To access this form and for additional information regarding waste management and drain disposal, see our Special Waste Disposal Requests section.

Substances deemed inappropriate for drain disposal can either be managed through the University’s Recycling office or through the Environmental Quality Management Department’s Waste Management Program.

Contact Maridely Loyselle for more information.

At no time should anything be disposed into the drains located outside buildings. These are storm drains that discharge directly to nearby creaks and streams. To discharge material in these drains is a violation of State law and the University’s Stormwater Permit.