District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority

DC Water allows residents, businesses, and government agencies to discharge groundwater (e.g., construction/dewatering projects, groundwater remediation systems, etc.) or other temporary discharges (e.g., power wash runoff, hydro-demolition wastewater, etc.) to the public sewer system on a case-by-case basis.

Groundwater and surface runoff may only be discharged to the Combined Sewer System, Storm Sewer, or natural outlet.

The discharge standards apply to all temporary dischargers. DC Water currently has no standards for volatile organics, however, to determine if volatile organics require pretreatment, DC Water compares water quality data to published literature values in EPA's Guidance to Protect POTW Workers from Toxic and Reactive Gases and Vapors.

All residents, businesses, and government agencies wanting to discharge groundwater (e.g., construction/dewatering projects, groundwater remediation systems, etc.) or other temporary discharges (e.g., power wash runoff, hydro-demolition wastewater, etc.) to the public sewer system must submit a Temporary Discharge Authorization (TDA) Permit Application (PDF 44 kb) to DC Water's Pretreatment Coordinator. The application submittal shall include an analysis of the wastewater, a copy of any engineering plans or documents, and a site map showing the discharge location. There is no permit application fee.

The application package shall be mailed or delivered to the Pretreatment Coordinator at:

District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority
Department of Wastewater Treatment, CMF 2nd Floor
5000 Overlook Ave., SW
Washington, DC 20032
Telephone: 202-787-4177

For expeditious processing, a copy of the application package may also be faxed to 202-787-4226 (with hard copy to follow in the mail).

Additional DC Water contacts are required to complete the TDA permit process:

1. DC Water's Customer Service Billing and Measurement Office must be notified to identify metering requirements and sewer use fees. Contact the Metering Manager at 202-612-3485.
2. DC Water's Department of Sewer Services must be notified of the discharge location. Contact the Inspection Manger at 202-264-3829.

Once a permit is obtained, the permittee must submit periodic monitoring reports to the Pretreatment Coordinator as required under site-specific conditions in the TDA permit. Unscheduled random inspections of project sites may also be conducted.

If the site is in a separate storm sewer area and the discharge contains groundwater or surface water, the applicant must contact the DC Department of Environmental Water Quality Division at 202-535-2190 to inquire about discharging to the storm sewer. To determine if the project is in a separate storm sewer area, you can obtain a copy of the sewer map for the project area from the Documents and Permits Office (please refer to the Permits General Information page for more information.)