We have produced our website to help Los Angeles business owners and operators better understand and comply with City mandated rules and regulations that are helping to keep hazardous wastes and other dangerous pollutants out of the sewer system. Residents, educators, and students will also find materials here that are of interest.

Please click on the links below or on the headings at the top of the page and in the left margin to find out more about industrial waste management in the City of Los Angeles.

 BUSINESS / INDUSTRY
Learn about the permits that apply to your business, determine how to better manage your liquid wastes, and find out about upcoming workshops and events. Forms, programs, FAQs, and other useful guidelines and programs can be found here.

 RESIDENTS
Discover City programs that will help you keep household hazardous wastes out of the wastewater system.

 TEACHERS / STUDENTS
Get an internship, win a contest, take a tour of a treatment plant, and participate in the City Sewer Science Program.

 RESOURCES
Find out more through links and downloadable documents.

From the Division Manager...

Welcome.

Most substances such as soaps, and food and human waste, are easily removed from sewage at our wastewater treatment and water reclamation plants. Other wastes – many of them generated by business and industry – present a danger not only to humans and the environment, but to the City’s wastewater treatment plants as well.

IWMD's primary job is to maintain the health and safety of the public and environment while protecting the City’s plants and their byproducts: biosolids and treated wastewater.

We do this by administering the City’s EPA-approved pretreatment program in accordance with the City’s Industrial Waste Control Ordinance. Specifically, we regulate, monitor and control the wastewater discharges of more than 12,000 industrial users into the City’s sewers.

While industrial users are our main concern, we encourage everyone to explore the website and discover how to keep dangerous pollutants out of our sewer system.