The MCA, through the efforts of its environmental counsel, Joseph E. Quandt, and its environmental consulting teams, has negotiated a general exemption to the groundwater discharge regulations under the Michigan Water Resources Commission Act for treatment of industrial wastewater. A condition of this exemption is that members must implement a wastewater (wash water and drum waste) treatment system that will prevent discharges from the surface to groundwater.

The Law
Under Part 22, Part 31, and their applicable Administrative Rules, it is unlawful to discharge any liquid industrial waste to the groundwaters or surface waters of the state of Michigan. The definition of a liquid industrial waste is very broad and, essentially, can include any liquid which comes in contact with an industrial process. Accordingly, a liquid waste from mixers, vehicle washing operations, etc. is a regulated waste product.

Many of our members discharge these wastes into an unlined or concrete lined surface impoundment or lagoon area. This type of activity became unlawful with the promulgation of the new Part 22 Administrative Rules in 1999. Accordingly, in order for MCA members to remain in compliance with this regulation, an exemption would need to be pursued.

To accomplish this exemption, MCA representatives met with the MDEQ to design a treatment system which would have a reasonable cost to install, would qualify for certain tax credits and exemptions, and bring facilities utilizing the system into compliance with the Part 22 rules. Then, the MCA engaged design contracting engineers to develop a system which would have operational flexibility for ready mix concrete facilities. We are pleased to announce that the MDEQ has approved these exemptions for members so long as the approved design is implemented.

The License
In order to protect the proprietary nature of the design information, the design will only be available after execution of a non-exclusive license agreement. This license agreement allows for a Member's use of the designs at a specific facility. The license agreement specifically prohibits any distribution of the design information to any third parties outside the Members' organization and requires Members to hold the design and engineering information confidential.

This agreement will accomplish two purposes. First, it will prevent the proliferation of the design technology to non-members who have not paid for the benefit and efforts expended to accomplish the regulatory exemption. This helps participating members maintain a competitive advantage over non-participating non-members. Second, the license agreement will require a nominal license fee to help reimburse the Association for its cost in pursuing these exemptions.

This exemption directly benefits members in the following manner:

• provides an already approved design and engineering specifications for the treatment system without individual costs to individual members
• implementation of the system will, for most facilities, qualify for pollution control tax credits and future tax exemptions
• implementation may provide members with the recognition as a pollution prevention partner from the MDEQ
• design and operation of this system is made with an objective towards ease of implementation and a minimum of expense; implementation assistance and outreach is also available through the MCA's recognized consulting partners - Environmental Consultants & Services, Inc. and Soil and Materials Engineers, Inc.