Clean Water Act Practice Test

This item tests knowledge of how facilities are classified when they discharge into a POTW. When a facility begins discharging into a POTW for the first time, it is described as a new indirect discharger. The term “new” signals the initial entry into the POTW system, which has implications for permitting and pretreatment review. In contrast, an existing indirect discharger is already discharging into the POTW prior to the current permit, so its status reflects ongoing activity rather than an initial connection. The other terms describe pollutant aspects rather than discharge status. Nonconventional pollutants refer to pollutant categories that are not considered conventional in treatment or regulation, and priority pollutants are a specific list of hazardous pollutants; neither term designates whether the discharge is new to the POTW.