The requirements for industrial pretreatment will limit the entrance of metals into municipal treatment facilities in many communities. Within a city or region, opportunities for grouping waste streams from several similar companies for combined treatment may exist. This project was designed to consider three companies from the metal-related field in the City of Taunton, Massachusetts, as possible candidates. The intent was to explore the treatment technology applicable to this segment of the electroplating industry in order to determine the potential for cost savings with group treatment and also to develop the legal and institutional arrangements necessary for successful implementation and operation. Technical and economic data are presented on individual control alternatives for each of the three companies as well as on group treatment, with several variations for concentrated wastes and sludges. In addition, the potential for material recovery and water reuse within the various control alternatives is developed. Finally, the appropriate institutional and financial factors for ownership and operation of an industrial group treatment facility are described. The project is an outgrowth of a Section 208 (PL 92-500) areawide wastewater management plan under development by the Southern Regional Planning and Economic Development District (SRPEDD) of Massachusetts as an alternative approach to meeting pretreatment requirements. The materials in the report are designed to assist the companies in determining whether they should treat particular elements of their waste separately or jointly.

Grant no. S-805181. July 1979.