The City of Rock Hill’s Pretreatment Program (RHPP) is responsible for controlling discharges of contaminated wastewater to Manchester Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant (MCWWTP). Before discharging to MCWWTP, approval must be obtained from the RHPP. In July 2018, the RHPP revised the program's regulations to include newly adopted Ordinance requirements (Chapter 29, UTILITIES, ARTICLE III, DIVISION 2. Sec. 29-171) and promulgated a new regulation for Miscellaneous Wastewater Discharge including disposal of contaminated Groundwater from remediation efforts. Prior to submitting any permit application for a new or increased discharge of Groundwater, the applicant needs to submit a scope of work and hydrogeological evaluation to ensure that the Groundwater is acceptable for the proposed discharge. Only Groundwater from within York County, SC will be accepted at MCWWTP.

The prospective Groundwater discharger will need to describe the discharge and complete an application, whereupon the RHPP will evaluate the request and notify the designated facility contact of its decision.

MCWWTP may be willing to accept a discharge of contaminated water but has no obligation under federal or state law to do so.

If MCWWTP is willing to accept contaminated water, the RHPP has the authority to impose limitations and other requirements on the discharge based on:

• Available capacity at the treatment works.
• Its judgment of what is acceptable.
• Specific needs to protect its POTW.
• Discharge prohibitions in its ordinance.
• Any other limitations or requirements which may be considered by the Plant Superintendent. The limitations or requirements may make pretreatment necessary.
• Discharge monitoring and reporting may be required.
• If the discharge becomes a problem at any time, MCWWTP may terminate or suspend the discharge.
• MCWWTP has the right to inspect or sample the discharge at any time.
• MCWWTP may take enforcement action if there are violations of discharge limitations or requirements.
• Failure to pay sewer charges.

The following steps will aid in determining if the City can receive groundwater:

1. The City may be solicited to by a remediation group.
2. The group may request permission to discharge groundwater to Manchester Creek WWTP. 
3. Before receiving the groundwater, the City must determine if the groundwater source is in the service area (York County, SC). 
4. Next, the City must determine if the groundwater is contaminated. 
5. The prospective Groundwater discharger will need to describe the discharge and complete an application.
6. The City will request a Groundwater Lab Analysis (GLA) Report from a SC Certified Laboratory. 
7. Once received, the application will be reviewed by RHPP and the GLA Report must be sent for review to the City’s Environmental Consulting Engineering Firm. 
8. Once the Firm reviews the GLA Report, the Firm will send recommendations for groundwater discharge. 
9. If approved and applicable, the group may be required to obtain a City business license.
10. If approved by the Plant Manager, a Letter of Authorization will be issued to Discharge Wastewater with all pertinent information. 
11. Once the groundwater discharge has been authorized, a tracking system must be employed.  The discharger must present a completed hauler manifest upon arrival with the tanker truck. If the discharger is connected to the City’s sewer system, a meter should be in place for recording discharge volume for billing purposes.

The following steps will be used to bill the responsible party for groundwater discharge:
Instances of metered discharge from groundwater remediation sites will be billed at the rate defined in APPENDIX A - FEE SCHEDULE[1] Chapter 29. Utilities  § 29-112 (b) Monthly charges. Hauled groundwater discharge will be billed at the rate set forth in  § 29-222 (9). All groundwater discharge is subject to surcharges for high strength discharge if the wastewater
exceeds domestic wastewater concentration as defined in Sec. 29-118.

All nonresidential charges will be based on metered water use or alternative acceptable to the city:

• Sec. 29-112. Schedule SR (Wastewater collection and treatment service)
• Sec. 29-118. - Surcharges for high strength discharge

Any user discharging wastewater into the collection system which exceeds domestic wastewater concentrations shall be subject to surcharges for additional treatment requirements. Surcharges have been established for excess biological oxygen demand (BOD), excess chemical oxygen demand (COD) and total suspended solids (TSS). Surcharges will be applicable when BOD exceeds 230 mg/l, COD exceeds 575 mg/l and when TSS exceeds 200 mg/l.

Surcharges will be billed based upon total pounds of pollutant above the threshold for domestic wastewater using the following formula: Flow (mgd) × concentration (mg/l) × 8.34 (lbs/gal).

The daily quantity less the domestic wastewater allowance will be multiplied by the applicable surcharge rate to determine the surcharge amount. Surcharge rates are found in the appendix A, fee schedule. If surcharge fees for BOD and COD are both applicable, the discharger will be billed for the larger of the calculated BOD and COD surcharge fees, not both.

High concentration surcharge rates for wastewater exceeding domestic concentration limits:

• BOD, per pound: 0.428
• TSS, per pound: 0.237
• COD, per pound: 0.286

Types of fees:

• (8) Administrative penalty: 100.00
• (9) Discharge to sewer system by companies treating contaminated groundwater sites in York County: $500.00 per occurrence for loads less than 2,500 gallons based on analytical review and issuance of discharge authorization letter by the City.
  Example: 6500 gallons of discharge= $500.00/2500 gallons + $500.00/2500 gallons + $500.00/1500 gallons for a total of $1500.00