Industrial Pretreatment Program

The objective of the City of Dayton Industrial Pretreatment Program is to control industrial discharge wastes that could interfere with wastewater treatment processes and to prevent pollutants from passing through the treatment works that would degrade the receiving waters. Pretreatment regulations require that certain industries pre-treat their process wastewater to remove excess pollutants prior to discharging to the Wastewater Treatment Plant.

Specific types of industrial processes are regulated by federal categorical standards and all industries are also regulated by City discharge limits that are specific to the City of Dayton’s Wastewater Treatment Plant. For more information about how these federal and municipal regulations may impact your industrial process, contact Dayton’s Pretreatment Coordinators at (937) 333-1501.

The goals of the City's Industrial Pretreatment Program are:

  • To enrich the health and economic welfare of the community
  • To protect the Great Miami River from pass through of toxic chemicals and heavy metals.
  • To prevent interference with the City Wastewater Treatment Plant's treatment process.
  • To maintain a biologically viable influent capable of being transformed through treatment to high quality effluent and high quality Class "B" biosolids suitable for land application.
  • To protect our employees from hazardous substances that could be discharged from an industrial setting.
The City requires all current and future commercial and/or industrial users of the City's Wastewater Treatment Plant to complete and return the Industrial User Survey form prior to discharging wastewater to the City Sewer System. The survey form is designed to provide enough information for the City to determine if a complete Application for Industrial Wastewater Service will be required.

Quarterly Industrial Training Video Recordings

Quarterly Industrial Training - April 14, 2023

Quarterly Industrial Pretreatment Presentation

Proposed Local Limits Presentation – June 5, 2023

Extra-strength Surcharge


The City of Dayton Industrial Pretreatment Program administers the Extra-strength Surcharge Program. A surcharge may be applied to a business that discharges extra-strength wastewater. Extra-strength wastewater is defined as having a Biochemical Oxygen Demand concentration greater than 350 mg/L and / or a Total Suspended Solids concentration greater than 350 mg/L. Industrial Pretreatment Program personnel perform monitoring at businesses determined to be surchargeable. This monitoring is used to calculate the extra-strength charge.

The surcharge rates, as well as the water and sewer rates, vary depending on the location of your business within the City of Dayton Wastewater Treatment service area. Below is the formula for the surcharge bill calculations:

BOD surcharge =

[rate ($)] x [average BOD discharge concentration (mg/L) - 350 (mg/L)] x [flow (1000 cu.ft.)]


TSS surcharge =

[rate ($)] x [average TSS discharge concentration (mg/L) - 350 (mg/L)] x [flow (1000 cu.ft.)]