The City of Wood Dale has operated an USEPA approved pretreatment program for more than twenty years; which regulates non-residential discharges.

Publicly owned treatment works (POTWs) collect wastewater from homes, commercial buildings, and industrial facilities and transport it via a series of pipes, known as a collection system, to the treatment plant.  The City’s two POTWs remove harmful organisms and other contaminants from the sewage so it can be discharged safely into the receiving stream.  Generally, POTWs are designed to treat domestic sewage only.  However, POTWs also receive wastewater from industrial and commercial (non-domestic) users.  The Pretreatment Program established responsibilities of industry to implement Pretreatment Standards to control pollutants from the non-residential users which may pass through or interfere with POTW treatment processes or which may contaminate sewage sludge.

The City of Wood Dale’s Pretreatment Program assures that industrial development vital to the economic well-being of our City is compatible with a healthy environment.