Standards of Acceptance

SA Water's Standards of Acceptance of Liquid Waste to wastewater set the more commonly applied limits for acceptable physical and chemical characteristics of trade waste. Under certain circumstances, these limits are varied or additional limits may apply. For example, lower limits might apply if they can be readily achieved with existing pre-treatment equipment, or the cumulative mass of contaminant from a discharger is a significant proportion of the overall load at the receiving wastewater treatment plant. Where this occurs, such alterations are specified in individual Trade Waste Discharge Permits.
Dischargers are responsible for meeting these limits at all times. This commonly requires them to carry out on-site pre-treatment of trade waste through appropriate equipment, to achieve acceptable quality, before discharging it to the Corporation's wastewater.
SA Water accepts that for some businesses, meeting these standards is not economically achievable and individual discharges pose minimal risk. In such instances, a discharger will be deemed to have complied if;

Pre-treatment device(s) specified in their Trade Waste Discharge Permit have been installed and
The quantity and nature of trade waste requiring treatment prior to discharge is within the scope of their Trade Waste Discharge Permit and
An acceptable management system and maintenance program is in place to ensure pre-treatment equipment effectiveness.

Liquid and solid wastes not meeting these standards must be contained and removed by a licensed waste contractor, pursuant to the Environment Protection Act 1993, for offsite treatment.
Where separately treated trade waste streams are combined before sampling points, mass limits or alternative standards of acceptance may be imposed to take into account the dilution factor.