Code of Massachusetts Regulations
360 CMR - MASSACHUSETTS WATER RESOURCE AUTHORITY
Title 360 CMR 10.000 - Sewer Use
GROUP AND GENERAL PERMITS
Section 10.061 - Group Permit for Photo Processing and Printing Operations

Universal Citation: 360 CMR 10.000 MA Code of Regs 10.061

Current through Register 1531, September 27, 2024

(1) No Person shall discharge or cause or allow to be discharged, directly or indirectly, into the Authority Sewerage System, any Industrial Waste required to be covered by the Group Permit for Photo Processing and Printing Operations, unless such Discharge complies with such Group Permit issued to the discharger. This includes Industrial Waste that is hauled for Discharge to a Sanitary Sewer within the Authority Sewerage District.

(2) For purposes of 360 CMR 10.061, Photo Processing shall be defined as processing color and black and white prints and slides, including X-rays and microfilm.

(3) For purposes of 360 CMR 10.061, Printing shall be defined as lithography using presensitized plates.

(4) A Person doing Photo Processing or printing is eligible for and required to be covered by the Group Permit for Photo Processing and Printing Operations if its Discharge of Industrial Waste to a Sanitary Sewer in the Authority Sewerage District (or to a holding tank whose contents are hauled for Discharge to a Sanitary Sewer in the Authority Sewerage District) consists solely of the Photo Processing and/or Printing wastes it generates, and if it:

(a) Performs Photo processing and/or Printing in commercial space;

(b) Uses automated Photo Processing equipment;

(c) Uses a Standard Silver Recovery System for which the Authority has authorized operations and management practices; and

(d) Is not exempted from coverage by 360 CMR 10.061(5) or (6).

(5) A Person is not required or eligible to be covered by the Group Permit for Photo Processing and Printing Operations, and does not require any other permit from the Authority, if its only industrial sewer discharge is from its Photo Processing and/or Printing operations and it:

(a) Performs Photo Processing and/or Printing only in a residence;

(b) Discharges X-ray wastes, and such discharges derive solely from the on-site activities of a dental office that is exempt from the Group Permit requirements in 360 CMR 10.065; or

(c) Performs only hand tray processing.

(6) A Person is not eligible to be covered by the Group Permit for Photo Processing and Printing Operations, but requires a Sewer Use Discharge Permit or other applicable permit to discharge Industrial Waste to the Sewer, if it is not exempted from coverage by 360 CMR 10.061(5), and it:

(a) Processes motion picture film;

(b) Processes black and white slides or transparencies or positive microfilm using a reverse dichromate bleach processing solution;

(c) Discharges Wastewater from screen printing, flexographic or gravure/rotogravure printing, plate developing using a petroleum based additive process, or engraving plate manufacture;

(d) Discharges Wastewater from the manufacture or distribution of photographic or printing chemicals;

(e) Discharges Wastewater from the recovery of materials from, or from the reprocessing or recycling of, Photo Processing or Printing wastes, except as part of its silver treatment of wastes generated from its own Photo Processing and Printing operations;

(f) Discharges other Industrial Wastewater in addition to Photo Processing or Printing wastes;

(g) Has a total industrial process sewer discharge that averages 25,000 gallons per day or more, or is notified by the Authority that it otherwise is a Significant Industrial User as defined in 360 CMR 10.004;

(h) Discharges silver bearing wastes without a silver pretreatment system or uses a silver pretreatment system that is not a Standard Silver Recovery System;

(i) Does not discharge its fixer, bleach fix, stabilizers, or functionally similar solutions containing silver bearing wastes to the sewer, unless it discharges an average of more than 55 gallons per month of spent fountain solution to the sewer; or

(j) Does not or is unable to meet Authority discharge requirements, 360 CMR 10.021 through 10.025, by using a Standard Silver Recovery System and by following the operations and management practices required by the Group Permit for Photo Processing and Printing Operations, and upon notice from the Authority.

(7) A Person is eligible for and required to have the Combined Permit ( 360 CMR 10.064) rather than the Group Permit for Photo Processing and Printing Operations if:

(a) its Photo Processing or Printing operations are eligible for the Group Permit; and

(b) it has one or more other discharges or operations at its facility that make it ineligible for the Group Permit under 360 CMR 10.061(6)(a) through (f) and all those other discharges and operations are eligible for coverage by the General Permit ( 360 CMR 10.062) .

(8) Before commencing a discharge required to be covered by the Group Permit, the Person that will be discharging shall file with the Authority a Notice of Intent to Discharge, on a form available from the Authority, and shall not begin discharging until it is issued the Group Permit from the Authority.

(9) A Person issued the Group Permit shall comply with the terms and conditions of the Group Permit. The Permit shall contain standard terms and conditions for all Persons it covers. Those terms and conditions shall describe which facilities it covers, required submissions, general conditions to be met, required operations and management practices, and record keeping requirements. It may include information on required monetary charges that must be paid, enforcement information, and other requirements and information that the Authority deems necessary or appropriate to ensure compliance with 360 CMR 10.000 and/or with local, state, and federal laws and regulations.

(10) Any new facility that will be covered by the Group Permit, or substantial change to an existing facility that is covered by the Group Permit, must include plumbing to assure that a representative sample of the Discharge of all Photo Processing and Printing wastes may be taken at a safe and accessible location after treatment and prior to combining with any other streams.

(11) Unless specifically modified by the Group Permit, a Person issued a Group Permit shall comply with 360 CMR 10.000 and is subject to enforcement pursuant to 360 CMR 2.00: Enforcement and Administrative Penalties, and St. 1984, c. 372 and St. 1987, c. 307.

(12) A Person issued the Group Permit shall post a copy of the Group Permit on its applicable facility's bulletin board or such other conspicuous location as the Authority shall allow and shall post with the Group Permit the names of the individuals at the facility responsible for compliance with the Group Permit and the names of the individuals at the facility to be notified in the event of an Upset or other episode requiring notice to the Authority.

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