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Sewage disposal regulation and administration

Sewer systems in the United States are subject to the Clean Water Act and are regulated by multiple agencies on the local, state, and federal levels. Federal agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), state environment or health agencies, and local agencies such as regional pollution control boards^{[citation needed]}, all have an interest in the quality of water discharged from sanitary sewer treatment plants. At a minimum, sewer treatment plants must protect the health and welfare of the local population by ensuring that raw or primary treated wastewater does not contaminate the local potable water supply. At a maximum, certain agencies (such as those located in the Lake Tahoe watershed) must treat all inflows to tertiary standards, and then pump all treated water out of the drainage basin so that no effluent ever drains to a certain body of water.

The basic national standard for U.S. treatment plants is the Secondary Treatment Regulation.^[1] Most plants in the U.S. must meet this standard. Regulating agencies can compel sewer treatment enterprises to construct improvements to their plants by requiring higher standards in effluent quality. If not in compliance with regulations, sewer enterprises may be subject to heavy fines. Regulation is therefore often the driving force behind increasing sewer treatment costs in the United States, and is directly linked to the high cost of constructing or expanding a sewer treatment facility.

In England and Wales sewage disposal is regulated by the Environment Agency with regard to environmental standards and their achievement and by Ofwat in relation to charges and service standards. In Scotland the Scottish Environment Protection Agency fulfils the equivalent role that the Environment Agency plays in England and Wales

Sewer systems are usually administered on the local level, usually city-wide, and usually by the city itself. These systems, which may operate independently or as a subdivision of a city or other municipal agency, are typically operated as Enterprises, meaning that they produce enough revenues to fund their own activities.

Revenues are usually generated through two charges to customers: connection fees and use charges. Connection fees are charged once to new customers as they connect to the sanitary sewer collection system, and are usually designed to recover capital investments made by the enterprise to serve its customers. Use charges are periodic charges for ongoing use of the system, and are designed to recover operations and maintenance expenses. Both connection fees and use charges are typically proportionate to the amount and strength of wastewater expected to be generated by each customer. Therefore, a single family residence would pay much smaller fees and charges than a food processing plant.

In England sewerage and sewage disposal is undertaken by relatively few large private companies, including several multi-national companies. In Wales and Scotland a "not for profit" company is the responsible body, however in Wales almost all the operational work is sub-contracted by others. Charges to domestic users are based either on the metered volume of incoming water or on the notional value of the property (rateable basis).

• Clean Water Act
• Public utility
• sewage
• Sewage treatment
• Water pollution