Elkhart Board sets deadlines, fines and an enforcement path for industrial discharge metering

The Board of Public Works on June 17 extended a compliance deadline for one manufacturer’s wastewater discharge meter, approved a city enforcement resolution for the discharge-meter mandate and set penalties and dates for industrial users that fail to meet the city’s metering requirements.

The Board approved an amendment giving Winona Powder Coating Incorporated until May 1, 2027, to install a required discharge meter, “subject to the conditions outlined, within the memorandum,” and later adopted Resolution 25-R-09 authorizing the compliance director to issue fines and sign consent orders for noncompliance, city staff said.

City public works official Steve Brown said the meter mandate is “a significant change for the whole pretreatment program,” and that the city previously had not enforced the requirement. He told the Board the city had notified its significant industrial users (SIUs) on May 9, 2024, and that the original deadline for compliance was June 30, 2025. Brown reported that “Total number of SIUs currently is 42. 3 of those are in compliance.”

Brown described the enforcement…