Miscellaneous Industrial User (MIU) General Permit Notification for Vehicle Maintenance Wastewater Discharges 

DEEP chose not to renew the General Permit for the Discharge of Vehicle Maintenance Wastewater (Vehicle Maintenance GP) which expired January 23, 2021. The Vehicle Maintenance GP was consolidated into the General Permit for Discharges from Miscellaneous Industrial Users (MIU GP) that became effective October 31, 2020.¹  Former registrants under the Vehicle Maintenance GP have until April 29, 2021 to complete the MIU GP Notification Form and submit it to their "applicable POTW Authority".  POTW is an acronym for Publicly Owned Treatment Works, also know as a sewage treatment plant and its sanitary sewer collection system.  Generally, the applicable POTW Authority is the sewage treatment plant that receives the wastewater.  Below please find a link to the MIU GP that has Vehicle Maintenance wastewater references highlighted throughout the permit.

MIU GP with vehicle maintenance wastewater highlights (Appendix H contains the bulk of the former Vehicle Maintenance GP requirements.)

Below please find links to the two forms (with instructions) that must be submitted to the applicable POTW Authority for dischargers of vehicle maintenance wastewater.  Both are required for vehicle maintenance wastewater discharges.

1) MIU GP Discharge Notification Form to POTW Authority (Word fillable)
    MIU GP Discharge Notification Form to POTW Authority (pdf format)
    Instructions for the MIU GP Discharge Notification Form to POTW Authority

2) Attachment A to (MIU GP) Notification Form (Word Fillable)
    Attachment A to (MIU GP) Notification Form (pdf format)
    Instructions for Attachment A to (MIU GP) Notification Form

To authorize the discharge of vehicle maintenance wastewater under the MIU GP, a facility must complete and submit the MIU GP Notification Form and Attachment A to the applicable POTW Authority.  The MIU GP Notification Form and Attachment A must not be submitted to DEEP. They will be returned.  A list of POTW Authorities and WPCAs (Water Pollution Control Authorities) by town can be found in a table at the back of the MIU GP Notification Form instructions. Notification Fees, if any, beyond any standard per gallon fee will be determined by each POTW Authority. Please keep in mind that this form is used for all types of industrial and commercial wastewaters from places like an automobile service garage up to a large manufacturing facility.  This might explain why the requested information appears out-of-context for vehicle maintenance wastewater. 

Specific Instructions for the MIU GP Notification Form:

Question #1: Facility Information, complete parts a, b, & c.

Question #2: Indicate the sewage treatment plant that receives the vehicle maintenance wastewater from your facility.. 

Question #3:  At a minimum, check the third box for “Provide notice of any Vehicle Maintenance Wastewater discharges.” This does not preclude you from checking other boxes, if necessary, but most car washes or vehicle service stations will only need to check the third box.  For example, a new owner of a car wash would also check the fourth box due to a change in ownership.

Question #4:  If the vehicle maintenance discharge was previously registered under DEEP's Vehicle Maintenance Wastewater general permit, check “yes” and provide the permit number which would begin with GVM.  (Former registrants under the Vehicle Service general permit had a permit number that began with GVS.  Former registrants under the Car Wash general permit had a permit number that began with GVW.)   If you still have a copy of the Certificate of Registration from your Vehicle Maintenance Wastewater general permit, attached a copy to the Notification Form when you submit it.

Question #5:  Check the first box that says “The discharge is Vehicle Maintenance Wastewater.”
Because you checked a box in question #5, you skip Questions #6 and #7, but must complete question #8 and also complete Attachment A.

Question #8:  If the vehicle maintenance wastewater discharges directly to a POTW (sewage treatment plant) in the same town or city where the facility is located, you can write the same name of the sewage treatment plant that was indicated in #2.  If your vehicle maintenance wastewater flows through sanitary sewer lines in one town or city and is then received by a sewage treatment plant in another town or city, indicate the name of the first town or city as well as the name of the sewage treatment plant that was indicated in #2.  Please note that you must submit the MIU GP Notification Form to both places noted.  Submission of a copy of the completed form is acceptable.

Question #9:  Read the certification paragraph and print your name and title and date at the bottom.

Specific Instructions for Attachment A to Notification Form (Detailed Discharge Information):

Part I.

Question #1:  Indicate the Facility Name that you used in question #1 from the Discharge Notification form to POTW Authority.

Question #2:  Indicate the name and contact information of any engineer, certified hazardous materials manager (CHMM), or other consultant who might have helped complete the MIU GP Notification Form or helped to design any part of the treatment system for the vehicle maintenance wastewater.  The POTW Authority might use this information if they have specific questions about the Notification Form or its treatment system, if any.

Part II. Individual Discharge Information

Question #1:  This Discharge ID number can be any number chosen by the discharger and is only meant to help differentiate between discharges when a facility has multiple discharges they might be notifying a POTW Authority about.  If there is no previous Discharge ID Number used for this discharge, we recommend starting with 001.

Question #2:  Indicate the approximate location of the discharge on the site where it enters a sanitary sewer lateral and/or sampling will take place. A site map can also be used for this.  If an oil/water/grit separator is used for treating the vehicle maintenance wastewater and the wastewater then goes directly to the sanitary sewer, this answer can be "following discharge side of oil/water/grit separator."

Question #3:  The "Monitoring Location:" should describe where monitoring samples could be collected to verify compliance with the applicable POTW Authority’s limits or effluent limits of Section 5(a) of the MIU GP.  The MIU GP does not require the discharger of vehicle maintenance wastewater to take monitoring samples on a regular basis.  However, the POTW Authority has the right to request a sample of the wastewater discharge.  For sites that use an oil/water/grit separator to treat their vehicle maintenance wastewater, this monitoring sample can be  taken using the "tee pipe" that should exist at the discharge side of the oil/water/grit separator.

Question #4:  If vehicle maintenance wastewater is the only commercial or industrial wastewater being discharged from the facility other than domestic wastewater (wastewater from bathrooms or small kitchen sinks), only the "Vehicle maintenance" row in the table at #4 needs to be completed.  This row can be found toward the bottom of the table in the "Group II (Non-process Wastewater) Discharges" portion of the table. Check the box at the beginning of the row.  If other wastewaters represented by rows in this table are discharged from the facility, these rows will need to be completed, also. (This is uncommon unless the vehicle maintenance discharge takes place at a larger manufacturing facility or possibly an educational facility.)

#4.b.  Max Daily Flow (gpd) column--Provide the total maximum daily flow of vehicle maintenance wastewater that could be discharged from the facility in gallons per day (gpd). Max daily flow means the greatest volume of wastewater to be discharged over any one operating day.  If a facility does not have a flow meter on their discharge line, they can use their monthly or quarterly water bill to figure this out.

#4.c.  Check box if treatment required--If an oil/water/grit separator or filtering device is used to treat the vehicle maintenance wastewater, check this box. The vehicle maintenance requirements at Appendix H(12)(A)(iii) do not require the use of an oil/water/grit separator for facilities that meet the definition of small volume autobody repair or small volume vehicle detailing facility.  DEEP had always extended the use of the small volume vehicle detailing facility definition to any facility (for example, an ambulance parking garage with a floor drain) that met the definition.  The definition of small volume vehicle detailing facility is:

a facility 1) from which, in connection with vehicle cleaning operations, there is discharged less than 500 gallons per day of vehicle maintenance wastewater, 2) processes less than ten vehicles per day, 3) where automated exterior cleaning equipment is not used, 4) where steam cleaning of engines is not performed, and 5) where neither engine service nor engine repair is performed.

#4.d.  Indicate if the discharge is continuous (the discharge flows constantly throughout the operating day at a fairly constant flow) (this is true for most car washes or vehicle service stations), intermittent (for example a 500 gallon tank is emptied at 10 am in the morning and then again at 3 pm in the afternoon) or if the discharge is transported to the sewage treatment plant by a waste transporter.  If the discharge is continuous, indicate the number of hours per day the discharge will flow (this will usually be the same as the operating hours of the car wash or vehicle service station).  If the discharge is intermittent, indicate the volume (gallons) of vehicle maintenance wastewater that will be discharged per batch.  If the discharge is transported, indicate the volume (gallons) that will be transported over any one operating day.

#4.g. Indicate the sum of all of the Group II Non-process Wastewater flows in column 4.b. If vehicle maintenance wastewater is the only non-domestic wastewater being discharged at the facility, this number will be the same as the vehicle maintenance max daily flow indicated two rows above it.

#4.h. Indicate the sum of all of the Group I Process Wastewater and Group II Non-process Wastewater flows in column 4.b. If vehicle maintenance wastewater is the only non-domestic wastewater being discharged at the facility, this number will be the same as the vehicle maintenance max daily flow and the flow in 4.g. above it.

Question #5. In this space, please expand on the short answer that was provided in 4.d.  If the discharge is from a car wash and is a continuous discharge, please indicate the number of bays in the car wash and whether the washing is manual or automatic.  For example, "the car wash has 6 bays for manual car washing and two bays for automatic car washing."  If the discharge is intermittent, indicate the circumstances that cause it to be intermittent.  For example, "The car wash does not have a floor drain, so any washing is performed within a bermed area. The wastewater is vacuumed up and temporarily discharged to a 500 gallon tank, and the 500 gallon tank is discharged when it is full, usually once or twice per day."  If the vehicle maintenance wastewater is transported from a holding tank at the facility to a sewage treatment plant, indicate the size of the holding tank and how often the tank is emptied per week, month, or year.

Question #6.  Indicate how the maximum daily flow of the discharge per day was determined.  If a flow meter exists on the discharge pipe, indicate "flow meter".  If the water bills were used to determine the max daily flow of the vehicle maintenance wastewater, indicate how the max daily flow was calculated using the water bill.  If a manual car wash wand was sprayed into a five gallon bucket to determine the rate of flow of water through the wand, indicate how the max gallons per day was determined.

Question #7.  Indicate the source of the vehicle maintenance wastewater.  For example, one answer could be "The vehicle maintenance wastewater is all car wash wastewater." For a vehicle service station, this answer might be "Vehicle maintenance wastewater is produced from drippage from cars, occasional washing of cars, and occasional floor washdowns."

Question #8.  If an oil/water/grit separator is used to treat the wastewater, indicate the size of any of the tanks used.  If no treatment is used, indicate why.

Question #9.  Indicate the names of any of the chemicals found in the soap, wax, or other materials that might be added to the water during the washing process.  Safety data sheets should be on hand at the facility for any of the materials added during the washing process.  These safety data sheets can be obtained from the vendor of the materials.  Chemical names and their Chemical Abstract System (CAS) numbers can be obtained from the safety data sheets.

List of Connecticut Permitted Waste Transporters--For the cleaning of oil/water/grit separators or the transport of vehicle maintenance wastewater from a holding tank to a POTW (sewage treatment plant).  Paragraph 12.B.xi of Appendix H of the MIU GP requires semi-annual inspections of any treatment equipment which includes the oil/water/grit separator.  A log must be kept that records the inspections and any maintenance performed such as the cleaning of the oil/water/grit separator.

List of Connecticut Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTWs) Approved to Accept Transported, Non-domestic Wastewaters--For facilities that are not connected to sanitary sewer and discharge their vehicle maintenance wastewater to a holding tank.  These facilities must submit their MIU GP Notification Form to the POTW on this list that accepts the vehicle maintenance wastewater from the facility's holding tank.

 ¹ The General Permit for the Discharge of Wastewaters from Significant Industrial Users (SIU GP) can also authorize the discharge of vehicle maintenance wastewaters, but this will only be necessary when the vehicle maintenance wastewater is being discharged at a manufacturing facility that also discharges greater than 25,000 gallons per day of process wastewater or is listed as an "EPA Categorical" facility.

 

For additional information, please contact the Water Permitting and Enforcement Division at DEEP.WaterPermittingEnforcement@ct.gov.

Contents last updated January 2023