Does EPA have guidance on the PFPR rule available for zero discharge facilities? Are zero dischargers covered by the rule?
The legal basis of this rule (i.e., the basis used to determine whether a facility is covered by the rule) is the potential to discharge process wastewater pollutants. A PFPR facility is a categorical industrial user (CIU) and is subject to the PFPR regulations of “no discharge of wastewater pollutants” (or the P2 alternative) when there is a potential to discharge any PFPR process wastewater covered by the PFPR regulation. If a facility has no potential to adversely affect a POTW’s operation or violate any pretreatment standard or requirement due to accidental spills, operational problems, or other causes so that no regulated process wastewater can reach the POTW, then the facility is not covered under the PFPR rule and it is not legally required at the Federal level for these facilities to submit paperwork (i.e., BMR). In addition, if the only wastewater that a PFPR facility discharges (or has the potential to discharge) is not a regulated process wastewater under the PFPR effluent g
