Industrial Wastewater

The MELCC is responsible for the oversight of industrial waste water discharged into the environment for adequately protecting receiving environments in order to ensure the preservation of water usages such as drinking water, fishing, swimming, etc. All new industrial projects and changes to existing projects are covered by an environmental authorization regime.

The MELCC has developed regulations, guidelines and other documents for various industrial sectors in order to transparently and uniformly assess the environmental acceptability of projects. The Water atlas - Industries (French) can also be used to access information regarding the discharge of industrial waste water into aquatic environments.

• Forms
• Regulations
• Support documents
• Reports and other documents of interest

Forms

• Application for environmental authorization (French)

Regulations

• Regulation respecting pulp and paper mills
  • Application guide for the Regulation respecting pulp and paper mills (French, PDF, 1 MB)
• Regulation respecting the liquid effluents of petroleum refineries
• Regulation respecting pits and quarries
  • Quarry and Sandpit Documentation (French)
• Regulation respecting bituminous concrete plants

Support documents

• Acceptability assessment approach for non-domestic wastewater discharge into a municipal sewer system (French, PDF, 782 KB)
• Directive 019 for the mining industry (French)
  • Mining Sector Documentation (French)
• Information sheet—cement mixer and pump truck water washing management during construction periods (French, PDF, 171 KB)
• Characterization guide for mine tailings and ore (French, PDF, 1 MB)  
  • Literature review to update the guide (French, PDF, 1.7 MB)
• Guide sur les séparateurs eau-huile (PDF, 511 ko)
• Guidelines for applying environmental disposal objectives to industrial waste in an aquatic environment (French, PDF, 568 KB)
  • Comparison between measured effluent concentrations and Effluent Discharge Objectives (EDOs) for existing companies (Addendum to Guidelines, French, PDF, 424 KB)
  • Comparative spreadsheet of environmental effluent discharge monitoring results (French, Excel, 59 KB)
• Guidelines applicable to the off-network agrifood industry (French)
• Guidelines for managing blowdown of water cooling tower facilities (CTs) (French, PDF, 829 KB)  
  • Langelier saturation (LSI), Ryznar stability (RSI) and Puckorius scaling (PSI) indices calculator (French, Excel, 59 KB)
• Guidelines for non-regulated industry self-monitoring effluent programs (French, PDF, 1,4 MB)
• Guidelines for marine products processing plants (French, PDF, 272 KB)
• Accuracy checking a pH meter (French, PDF, 390 KB)
• Accuracy checking a temperature gauge (French, PDF, 195 KB)

Reports and other documents of interest

• Water atlas (French)
• Pulp and paper mills in Québec–processes, effluent and regulatory control (French, PDF, 118 KB)
• Oil refineries–environmental issues and liquid effluent regulatory control (French, PDF, 218 KB)
• Mining–environmental issues and liquid effluent normative framework (French, PDF, 268 KB)
• Twenty-Five Years of Industrial Wastewater Purification in Québec: A Report (1970–1995)
• Clean Technologies/The Other Industrial Wastewater Purification Method
• Oil/water separator guide