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Discharges to Water
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Environmental Management Systems
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Facilities can reduce water pollution that stresses treatment plants and receiving waters. The Performance Track program encourages applicants and members to report on improvements in the aspects of discharges to water listed below. Examples of appropriate measures are also provided.
Indicators to Measure Environmental Performance
| Indicators | Units |
|---|---|
| Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) |
|
| Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) | |
| Toxics (total or specific) | |
| Total Suspended Solids | |
| Nutrients (total or specific) |
|
| Sediment from runoff |
|
| Pathogens (total or specific) |
|
Methods to Improve Environmental Performance
Steps taken by Performance Track members to reduce water discharges:
- improving water treatment processes
- redesigning products to reduce the use of toxics, thus reducing toxic discharges to water
- optimizing processes to reduce production byproducts
Other examples of approaches for reducing water discharges include:
- substituting non-toxic materials in production whenever possible
- recovering degreasing solvents or changing processes to eliminate solvents
- conducting periodic water quality audits
- establishing good housekeeping, testing, and maintenance procedures
Business Benefits of Improved Environmental Performance
Bottom-line benefits resulting from reducing discharges to water can include:
- lower sewer utility costs through reduced wastewater production
- increased productivity and process efficiency through optimized production cycles
Conversion and Contextual Factors for Discharges to Water
Methods to convert non-standard measurement units into indicator reporting units, and methods to convert environmental improvements into commonly understood contexts, can be found through the links below:
- Conversion factors (e.g. the weight of one gallon of water in pounds)
- Measurements of the weight of water associated with various volumes.
- Contextual factors
- According to the EPA's Toxic Release Inventory, facilities discharged almost 248 million pounds of toxic chemicals into waterways in 2006.
Additional Resources
EPA and many non-governmental organizations, trade groups, and companies collect and share information on techniques and tools for improving a facility's water management practices. The links provided below highlight sources of information on the following topics:
- General Watershed Resources
- Reducing Wastewater Discharges
- Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD)
- Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD)
- Toxics (total or specific)
- Total Suspended Solids
- Nutrients (total or specific)
- Sediment from Runoff
- Pathogens
Disclaimer: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) provides this information as a free and open service to the public. EPA does not endorse any company or product identified on this or any subsequent pages listed herein, and makes no claims regarding the accuracy, validity, or effectiveness of this or any other product or service represented by these data.
If you would like to suggest additional resources to feature on this website, please email a description of the site (including what topics the site addresses) and the URL to hamilton.luctrician@epa.gov.
You can find lots of information about your watershed (e.g., water quality data) at EPA's Surf Your Watershed site or USGS’s Ground-Water Data for the Nation .
For information about citizen-based groups at work in your watershed, visit EPA's Adopt Your Watershed site. EPA's National Directory of Voluntary Monitoring Programs lists volunteer organizations around the country engaged in monitoring rivers, lakes, estuaries, beaches, wetlands, and ground water, as well as surrounding lands.
Reducing Wastewater Discharges
Standard Methods for the Examination of Waste and Wastewater is a comprehensive reference that covers all aspects of water and wastewater analysis techniques.
EPA Office of Water's Water Science and Wastewater Management site contains information relevant to water quality measurement.
Global Environmental Management Initiative's Water Sustainability Tool was eveloped to help individual companies and other organizations better understand what emerging water issues might mean for them given their operations, needs, and circumstances. Module 1 helps businesses identify all the ways they are connected to water.
EPA's Office of Wastewater Management offers a large collection of information related to wastewater, including:
- Municipal Technologies Fact Sheets provide information on available technologies for reducing and treating wastewater discharges that are particularly relevant for municipalities.
- The Biosolids website presents guidelines and information on the management, disposal, and use of biosolids waste.
- The Industrial Pretreatment website features links to EPA documents on wastewater pretreatment guidance programs.
Texas Water Utilities Association's Pollution Prevention for Wastewaters offers industry-specific tips on pollution prevention and links to sites with information for individual industrial sectors.
Business for Social Responsibility's Issue Brief - Water Quality reviews the methods for and economic benefits of reducing wastewater discharges and illustrates the application of various approaches through short case studies.
Chemical Oxygen Demand
See guidelines for indicator EN12: Discharges to Water in Water Protocol: For Use with the Global Reporting Initiative 2002 Sustainability Reporting Guidelines (PDF, 48 pp., 1MB) for information on appropriate units and measurement guidelines. Annex 2 contains useful conversion factors.
Chemetrics presents the colorimetric method of measuring COD, along with additional references for COD measurement.
Biological Oxygen Demand
Chapter 9 of EPA's Volunteer Estuary Monitoring: A Methods Manual (PDF, 19pp, 295k) includes measurement information for BOD.
Chapter 5 of EPA's Volunteer Stream Monitoring: A Methods Manual provides explanations of BOD, sampling considerations, and how to collect and analyze samples.
Toxics (total or specific)
To learn which chemicals are considered toxic by EPA, you may consult:
- EPA’s Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) 2006 toxic chemical list
Total Suspended Solids
See guidelines for indicator EN12: Discharges to Water in Water Protocol: For Use with the GRI 2002 Sustainability Reporting Guidelines (PDF, 48 pp., 1MB) for information on appropriate units and measurement guidelines. Annex 2 contains useful conversion factors.
Method 340.2 of the Lake Michigan Mass Balance Methods Compendium (PDF) (7 pp, 29K) is a detailed technical description of a mass balance method for total suspended solid measurement.
Nutrients
See guidelines for indicator EN12: Discharges to Water in Water Protocol: For Use with the GRI 2002 Sustainability Reporting Guidelines (PDF) (48 pp, 1MB) for information on appropriate units and measurement guidelines. Annex 2 contains useful conversion factors.
Sediment from Runoff
The Runoff, Erosion and Sedimentation: Prediction and Measurement section of the Food and Agriculture Departments of the United Nations' Land and Water Integration and River Basin Management site contains information about sedimentation measurement techniques.
Pathogens (total or specific)
The Water Science Division of EPA's Office of Water presents five accepted methods for measuring biological pollutants in ambient water.