Discharges to Water

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Facilities can reduce water pollution that stresses treatment plants and receiving waters. The Performance Track program encourages applicants and members to report on improvements in the aspects of discharges to water listed below. Examples of appropriate measures are also provided.

Indicators	Measures
Chemical Oxygen Demand	Tons Pounds
Biological Oxygen Demand
Discharges of Toxics to Water
Discharges of Total Suspended Solids to Water
Discharges of Nutrients to Water
Sediment from Runoff
Discharges of Pathogens to Water	Most Probable Number per gram (MPN/g) Most Probable number per milliliter (MPN/ml) Colony-Forming Units per gram (CFU/g) Colony-Forming Units per milliliter (CFU/ml)

In order to reduce discharges to water, Performance Track members are:

improving water treatment processes,
redesigning products to reduce use of toxics, thus reducing toxic discharges to water, and
optimizing processes to reduce production byproducts.

Other examples of approaches for reducing wastewater discharges include:

substituting non-toxic materials in production whenever possible,
recovering degreasing solvents or changing processes to eliminate solvents,
conducting periodic water quality audits, and
establishing good housekeeping, testing and maintenance procedures.

Bottom-line benefits resulting from reducing discharges to water can include:

lower sewer utility costs through reduced wastewater production, and
increased productivity and process efficiency through optimized production cycles.

EPA and many non-governmental organizations, trade groups, and companies collect and share information on techniques and tools for improving a facility's water management practices. The links provided below highlight sources of information on the following topics:

General Watershed Resources
Conversion and Contextual Factors for Discharges to Water
Reducing Wastewater Discharges
Biological Oxygen Demand
Chemical Oxygen Demand
Toxics
Total Suspended Solids
Nutrients
Sediment from Runoff
Pathogens

Disclaimer: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) provides this information as a free and open service to the public. EPA does not endorse any company or product identified on this or any subsequent pages listed herein, and makes no claims regarding the accuracy, validity, or effectiveness of this or any other product or service represented by these data.

If you would like to suggest additional resources to feature on this website, please email a description of the site (including what topics the site addresses) and the URL to hamilton.luctrician@epa.gov.

General Watershed Resources

From EPA's Surf Your Watershed site, you can find lots of information about your watershed (e.g., impairments, watershed associations, and much more).

For information about citizen-based groups at work in your watershed, visit EPA's Adopt Your Watershed site.

EPA's National Directory of Voluntary Monitoring Programs lists volunteer organizations around the country engaged in monitoring rivers, lakes, estuaries, beaches, wetlands, and ground water, as well as surrounding lands.

Conversion and Contextual Factors for Discharges to Water

Methods to convert non-standard measurement units into standard units, and methods to convert environmental improvements into commonly understood contexts, can be found through the links below:

Conversion factors (e.g. the weight of one gallon of water in pounds)

Measurements of the weight of water associated with various volumes.
Contextual factors

According to the EPA's Toxic Release Inventory, facilities discharged more than 260 million pounds of toxic chemicals into waterways in 2000.

Reducing Wastewater Discharges

Standard Methods for the Examination of Waste and Wastewater is a comprehensive reference that covers all aspects of water and wastewater analysis techniques.

EPA Office of Water's Water Science and Wastewater Management sites contain information relevant to water quality measurement.

Chemetrics' line of analytical kit includes easy-to-use measurement devices for discharges to water.

Global Environmental Management Initiative's Water Sustainability Tool was developed to assist individual companies and other organizations and better understand what emerging water issues might mean for them, given their operations, needs, and circumstances. Module 1 helps businesses identify all the ways they are connected to water.

EPA's Office of Wastewater Management offers a large collection of information related to wastewater, including:

Municipal Technologies Fact Sheets provide information on available technologies for reducing and treating wastewater discharges particularly relevant for municipalities.
The Biosolids website presents guidelines and information on the management, disposal, and use of biosolids waste.
The Industrial Pretreatment website features links to EPA documents on wastewater pretreatment guidance programs.

Texas Water Utilities Association's Pollution Prevention for Wastewaters offers industry-specific tips on pollution prevention and links to sites with information for individual industrial sectors.

Business for Social Responsibility's Topic Overviews review the methods for and economic benefits of reducing wastewater discharges and illustrate the application of various approaches through short case studies. (Note: To get to the information on water quality, click on "Water Quality" under "White Papers for Environment".)

Business for Social Responsibility's Issue Brief - Water Quality reviews the methods for and economic benefits of reducing wastewater discharges and illustrate the application of various approaches through short case studies.

Biological Oxygen Demand

Chapter 9 of EPA's Volunteer Estuary Monitoring: A Methods Manual includes measurement information for BOD.

Chapter 5 of EPA's Volunteer Stream Monitoring: A Methods Manual provides explanations of BOD, sampling considerations, and how to collect and analyze samples.

Chemical Oxygen Demand

See guidelines for indicator EN12: Discharges to Water in Water Protocol: For Use with the Global Reporting Initiative 2002 Sustainability Reporting Guidelines (PDF, 48 pp., 1MB) for information on appropriate units and measurement guidelines. Annex 2 contains useful conversion factors.

Chemetrics presents the colorimetric method of measuring COD, along with additional references for COD measurement.

Toxics

To determine which chemicals may be considered toxic, you can consult:

Toxics, as defined by the Clean Water Act
General resources for hazardous materials

Total Suspended Solids

See guidelines for indicator EN12: Discharges to Water in Water Protocol: For Use with the GRI 2002 Sustainability Reporting Guidelines (PDF, 48 pp., 1MB) for information on appropriate units and measurement guidelines. Annex 2 contains useful conversion factors.

Method 340.2 of the Lake Michigan Mass Balance Methods Compendium is a detailed technical description of a mass balance method for total suspended solid measurement. (PDF, 29KB, 7 pp, About PDF)

Nutrients

Sediment from Runoff

The Runoff, Erosion and Sedimentation: Prediction and Measurement section of the Food and Agriculture Departments of the United Nations' Land and Water Integration and River Basin Management site contains information about sedimentation measurement techniques.

Pathogens

The Water Science Division of EPA's Office of Water presents five accepted methods for measuring biological pollutants in ambient water.

Discharges to Water

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