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Effluent Guidelines are national standards for industrial wastewater discharges to surface waters and publicly owned treatment works (municipal sewage treatment plants). The EPA issues Effluent Guidelines for categories of existing sources and new sources under Title III of the Clean Water Act. The standards are technology-based (i.e. they are based on the performance of treatment and control technologies) and are not based on risk or impacts upon receiving waters.
On this page:
* Rulemakings
* Industry Studies
* Existing Regulations
* Other Publications Related to Effluent Guidelines
The table below lists the Effluent Guidelines promulgated by the EPA, organized by industry category. * For some of the regulations, the links in the 'Category Overview' column provide a summary of the regulation and available EPA publications for the category. * The links under '40 CFR' go directly to the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). 'Initial' indicates the year of the first rulemaking for the category and 'Last' indicates the most recent substantive revision.
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