POLLUTION ABATEMENT OF A COMPLEX MIXTURE OF
PHOTOGRAPHIC, PLATING AND OILY WASTES
Michael J. McGuire, Project Engineer
Graham T. Fraser, Project Manager
Brown and Caldwell Consulting Engineers
Pasadena, California 91109
Norman Schmokel, Project Engineer
Naval Facilities Engineering Command
San Diego, California 92132
INTRODUCTION
An industrial waste study was undertaken at the Naval Air Station/Pacific Missile
Test Center (NAS/PMTC), Point Mugu, California to determine what course of action
should be taken to assure continued compliance with applicable pollution control
regulations.    The Point Mugu facility is located on the coast approximately forty miles
northwest of Los Angeles.   Plans are now being implemented to pump the wastewater
from Point Mugu to the City of Oxnard wastewater treatment plant for ultimate
treatment and ocean disposal.   Major tasks of the industrial waste study were to identify
the significant industrial wastes generated and to recommend necessary pretreatment processes or abatement strategies to comply with the current and anticipated regulatory
requirements.    It was necessary to complete the study in a short time period because
the connection to the City of Oxnard wastewater treatment plant was planned to be
in service on April 1, 1978.
Regulations at the federal, state and local levels which affect the discharge of indus-
tial wastes are in a developmental phase.   Major legislation has been proposed or adopted
within the past six  months which has changed the limits that must be met for certain
pollutants or has changed the entire regulatory philosophy for certain industrial categories.    The purpose of this paper is to present a case history of a project that proposed
solutions to an industrial waste problem in the face of a changing regulatory picture.
GOVERNMENTAL REGULATIONS AND POLICY
Table I presents a listing of the changes that occurred to the industrial waste treatment regulations during the study period, i.e., October 1, 1977 to March 31, 1978.
At the federal and state level there were major changes in the regulations that were
applicable to the Point Mugu wastewater effluent.    The most critical change was the
publication of the new proposed pretreatment standards for electroplating operations.
In a later section, it will be demonstrated that this change significantly affected the
recommendations regarding the plating shop effluent.
Figure  1  demonstrates the potential effect of the changes in federal and state regulations on the local ordinance.   Clearly, a significant relaxation or tightening of the
higher level regulations must eventually be reflected in the local ordinance.   There is no
reliable estimate at this time as to the timing or actual modifications that might
eventually be incorporated into the City of Oxnard Code.   It is significant that the
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