What is water treatment?
Water treatment describes those processes used to make water more acceptable for a desired end-use. These can include use as drinking water, industrial processes, medical, agricultural, recreational and more. The goal of all water treatment processes is to remove existing contaminants from water, or reduce the concentration of such contaminants so the water becomes fit to use. One such use is returning water that has been used back into the natural environment without adverse ecological impact.
Why does water treatment matter?
Section 401 of the Clean Water Act defines water quality standards as including three components which include beneficial uses of water, water quality objectives, and individual states anti-degradation policy. Beneficial uses of water include drinking water, recreation, and wildlife habitat; water quality objectives are numeric and narrative limits or bans on substances and activities that affect water quality; and anti-degradation policy requires that existing high-quality waters be protected.
NPDES permits, like section 401 permits, are usually given out by the State unless the State has not been approved. In that case, the EPA is responsible for authorization of NPDES permits. The permit will require that the facility continue to sample its discharges and keep both the EPA and the State regulatory agency informed of its results. In addition, the EPA and State regulatory agency send out inspectors to sample discharge themselves. 7Q10 does monitoring of existing permits as well as the original permit applications.