A Special Discharge Permit is issued by Orange County Sanitation District for water and wastewater discharges to the sewerage system when no alternative discharge points exist other than the sewer system and/or alternate discharge methods pose an environmental impact or threat.

Wastewater discharges may include:

Temporary facilities and projects such as groundwater cleanup, soil remediation, and site dewatering;

Short-term or one-time water and wastewater discharges;

Emergency discharges from facilities that have no other industrial or permitted discharge point;

Surface run-off from areas associated with an industrial or commercial facility.

OCSD may approve the discharge of such water only when no alternative method of disposal is reasonably available, or to mitigate an environmental risk or health hazard.