Overview 

The City of Bismarck Department of Public Works implemented an Industrial Pretreatment Program in 1986, which was approved by the North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The City’s Industrial Pretreatment Program regulates commercial users of the City’s wastewater treatment plant by administering and enforcing the city’s Industrial Pretreatment Ordinance. 

The ordinance allows us to deny or condition businesses from discharging pollutants into the sanitary sewer that may:

• Create safety hazards.
• Cause structural damage.
• Inhibit biological activity.
• Interfere with the plant’s operations or processes.
• Be passed through into biosolids or with the effluent into the Missouri River.
• Cause worker health and safety concerns.

Business owners should understand the regulations that apply to their wastewater discharge and comply with applicable regulations and standards.