Technical Bulletin No. 0708: An Analysis of the Relative Performance of POTW and Paper Industry Wastewater Treatment Systems on Conventional and Non-Conventional Pollutants

To address concerns about pollutant pass-through at Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTWs), NCASI compared wastewater treatment parameters at POTWs receiving effluents from chemical pulp mills with similar parameters from industry-owned and -operated treatment processes. Comparisons were made for design parameters and treatment process performance on conventional pollutants (BOD, and TSS) and non-conventional pollutants (AOX, COD, and color), NCASI also examined the costs that would be incurred by indirect discharging mills in the event biological pretreatment was required on wastewaters discharged to POTWs. The study concluded that (a) BOD does not pass through POTWs treating mill effluents, (b) recently proposed BPT and BCT limits for chemical pulp mills are not substantially more stringent than the secondary treatment effluent limitations applied to most POTWs (30 mg/L each for BOD and TSS), (c) treatment efficiency of non-conventional pollutants at POTWs is no different than that achieved by direct dischargers, and (d) installation of industry-owned treatment facilities would represent a substantial capital investment, were it required.