Industrial Wastewater Discharge Permits

What is an Industrial Wastewater Discharge Permit?

A permit that allows a facility to discharge wastewater to the sanitary sewer system within legal limits and specific conditions.
A non-transferable permit that is issued to a individual user for a specific operation.
A permit that is issued in either a standard or short-term version.

Note: New permits must be issued by the expiration date of the current permit. Permit expiration dates cannot be extended.

New Permits: Submit application 90 days PRIOR to planned discharge.
Existing Permits: Submit application 90 days PRIOR to expiration of current permit.
Significant Changes: Submit application 30 days prior to any significant change.

Significant Change is defined as one of the following:

12 month average process flow rate increases or decreases by 25% from the previous 12 month period.
12 month average process flow rates increases to at least 25,000 gallons per day or decreases below 25,000 gallons per day from the process flow rate from the previous 12 month period.
12 month average process flow rates increases to at least 1,000 gallons per day or decreases below 1,000 gallons per day process flow rate from the previous 12 month period.
Addition/Removal of a process line or sample point

Needed by “Critical Users” or “Significant Industrial Users” and valid for a maximum of 5 years.

"Critical User" is a discharger whose wastewater contains priority pollutants, i.e., Pollutants of Concern or Corrosive Matter, or discharges in excess of one hundred thousand (100,000) gallons per day.
Significant Industrial User" refers to a facility that:
- Has processes subject to categorical pretreatment standards from the Code of Federal Regulations Sections: 405 to 471. This also includes “Zero Discharge Categorical User,” an industrial facility that has any connection to the sanitary sewer system but does not discharge wastewater from the categorical process to the sanitary sewer.
- Discharges an average of 25,000 gallons per day or more of process wastewater to the sanitary system (excluding sanitary, noncontact cooling and boiler blowdown wastewater)
- Contributes a process waste stream which makes up five percent or more of the average dry weather hydraulic or organic capacity of the San José-Santa Clara Regional Wastewater Facility; or has a reasonable potential for adversely affecting the San José-Santa Clara Regional Wastewater Facility’s operation or for violating any pretreatment standard or requirement.

If you have multiple non-discharged wastestreams, fill out a Supplemental SECTION H form for each wastestream

Include an application fee, made payable to the City of San José:
- $560 for less than 1,000 gallons per day
- $1,050 for 1,000 gallons per day or more
- Note: Permitted facilities are also subject to Sewer Use Fees for actual volumes discharged.