by Eric Grulke, Environmental Engineer
It’s been a while since I’ve blogged about the craft beer scene. Honestly, it’s been a while since I’ve done anything extracurricular of note. Beyond the occasional round of socially-distanced disc golf, I’ve mainly been coalescing with the chair in the work-from-home corner of my apartment. But, public health and safety comes first, so I’m waiting a bit before my next sit down with one of the many resilient breweries that New England has to offer. On a side note, most of our local breweries have curbside can pick-up options or outdoor seating (socially-distanced, of course), so please consider supporting (or continuing to support) a local business in a socially-responsible and safe way.
Today’s post is about an important regulatory change that directly impacts breweries in Connecticut. Effective October 31st of this year, the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) has issued its General Permit for Discharges from Miscellaneous Industrial Users (MIU GP), which encompasses wastewaters generated from breweries and distilleries.
If you are a brewery or distillery that discharges wastewater to a publically-owned water treatment facility, this new legislation applies to you. Permit requirements are based on potential cumulative daily flow from the facility with thresholds of less than 1,000 gallons per day (GPD), between 1,000 to 25,000 GPD and greater than 25,000 GPD.
As of this Halloween, you have 90 days to register under this new permit and comply with its requirements. Since time seems to move at a different speed in 2020, let me clarify – this means that you must submit your MIU GP registration before January 29, 2021. Compliance with this permit may means certification by a Qualified Professional Engineer or Qualified Hazardous Materials Manager (which one can certify you depends if you have a pre-engineered treatment system or not).
If only I knew some of these qualified individuals…oh, wait, I’m virtually surrounded by them!
I’m not going to go into all the details of the 72-page permit here. Instead, I’ll simply tell you that my colleagues and I are here to help. We’ve read the permit cover to cover and can assist you in determining your obligations under the MIU GP. If necessary, we can visit your site (while wearing PPE and maintaining appropriate social distancing) and complete the permit registration on your behalf back at our home office desks. You know that I’d be more than happy to learn more about your facility and your products, so maybe there’s an opportunity to feature you in an upcoming blog as well.
I’m going to include the slimmed down (11 pages) fact sheet here, but I encourage you to reach out. This is just another example of how engineering and craft beer (and distilleries) have more overlap than most people think they do, and also another great example of what makes my job so interesting.
About the Author
Eric Grulke is an Environmental Engineer with Fuss & O’Neill’s Environmental and Facility Services Business Line. He sincerely misses impromptu in-person beer events with his coworkers and looks forward to resuming this blog in its traditional fashion (hopefully) soon.
If you have questions please send Eric an email egrulke@fando.com, or give him a call at 860.646.2469 x5386.