Industrial Pretreatment Program

The City of Cumming currently provides sewer service to two Significant Industrial Users (SIUs). Significant Industrial Users are sewer customers who meet one or more of the following criteria:

  • They are subject to Categorical Pretreatment Standards under 40 CFR Part 403.6 and 40 CFR Chapter I, Subchapter N. For more information on 40 CFR see the web site: https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/granule/CFR-2012-title40-vol30/CFR-2012-title40-vol30-sec403-6
  • They discharge 25, 000 gallons per day or more of process wastewater.
  • They discharge 5% or more of the AWRF’s average dry weather hydraulic or organic capacity.
  • They have potential to inhibit the AWRF’s treatment processes.
  • They have the potential to cause a violation of the AWRF’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Permit or Georgia’s In-stream Water Quality Standards.
  • They have the potential to cause the AWRF’s biosolids to be contaminated and thereby limit the AWRF’s biosolids disposal options.
  • They have a reasonable potential for violating any pretreatment standard or requirement. This includes toxic pollutants in an Industrial User’s discharge as defined by Section 307 of the Clean Water Act. For more information on the Clean Water Act see this web site: https://www.epa.gov/cwa-404/clean-water-act-section-309-enforcement

Koch Foods 221 Meadow Drive, Cumming, Georgia 30040 :

Pretreatment Permit Number CMG-WQ-IP-188. Click here to download a copy.

Koch Foods is a poultry processing plant that discharges up to a monthly average of 112,000 gallons per day of pretreated wastewater.   This industry utilizes a Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF) unit followed by an activated sludge treatment process to remove suspended solids, oxygen demanding substances, nitrogen, oil and grease, and phosphorous.

Smithfield Farmland Corp 3660 North Parkway, Cumming, Georgia 30040:

Pretreatment Permit Number CMG-WQ-IP-195. Click here to download a copy.

Smithfield Farmland Corp is a pork processing plant that grinds, cooks, freezes, and packs sausage patties for McDonald’s restaurants. This facility discharges up to a monthly average of 75,000 gallons per day of pretreated wastewater. This industry utilizes a DAF unit to remove oil and grease, suspended solids, oxygen demanding substances, nitrogen, and phosphorous.

Do I Need a Pretreatment Permit?

All proposed and existing industrial sewer customers, whose wastewater discharge reaches the City’s sewer system at any point, must contact the City of Cumming for information regarding pretreatment standards and permitting. The City permits and regulates all industrial customers both inside and outside the City limits of Cumming. The regulation process enables the City to protect the Advanced Water Reclamation Facility’s fragile biological treatment processes, the quality of biosolids (sludge) produced, and the quality of the water in the receiving stream (Big Creek).

What is a DAF? The heart of the typical pretreatment facility is the dissolved air flotation (DAF) unit. A DAF unit utilizes flocculants such as polymers and metal salts (aluminum sufate and ferric chloride) to form floc particles. These floc particles are transported to the top of the unit via air bubbles and are scraped into a sludge collection system. The sludge is dewatered and disposed of in a sanitary landfill or recycled in a rendering plant.