Control of Industrial Wastes Entering
Municipal Sewers
CARL B.  CARPENTER
Superintendent
Hammond Sanitary District
Hammond, Indiana
Local regulatory measures, which establish .the proper use and
limitations of the municipal sewer system, are an inevitable result of
a quite common misconception that the public sewers are intended to
receive and carry away any quantity of any unwanted liquids or other
materials which may be sent to them. Legal restrictions are designed
to prevent physical damages to municipal structures, public safety
hazards, interference with the operation of sewers, pumping stations,
or sewage treatment plants.
The interference with the operation of the biological type of municipal sewage treatment plants has frequently brought to the attention of municipal authorities the urgent need for local legislation
controlling all industrial wastes entering a public sewer system. This
has been emphasized by the instances where the uncontrolled receipt
of industrial wastes in municipal sewage treatment plants has eliminated all value of the plant to provide its normally anticipated services.
In any community, the control of industrial wastes entering the
public sewers presents many problems to both local industries and the
responsibile governmental unit. It is believed the municipality has an
obligation to cooperate, within the limits of its facilities, in the treatment of acceptable industrial wastes so long as they do not jeopardize
the public health and comfort. The limits of the volume and characteristics of industrial wastes which local policy can permit to enter the
public sewer system for treatment depends upon the ability of the
municipality to legally finance the construction and operation of the
required works. Industry definitely has a definite continuing responsibility in the cooperative effort and the success of the cooperative effort
is entirely dependent upon the willingness of local industry to accept
the continuous challenge presented by the regulations.
INDUSTRIAL WASTES CONTROL PROGRAM OF THE
HAMMOND SANITARY DISTRICT
Since the organization of the Hammond Sanitary District some
fourteen years ago it has been obliged to give special attention to the
1