Facilities may contact their account specialist directly via phone or email. Account specialists are assigned based on letter group.

Facilities are monitored by the MWRD's field offices, located at four of its water reclamation plants. To find out which field office monitors your facility, please check the MWRD's Interactive Facility Map.

Article V, Section 15 of the Sewage and Waste Control Ordinance.

Facilities within the MWRD's service area are required to notify the PTCR group by phone within 1 hour of becoming aware of a spill, treatment system malfunction, bypass, or slug discharge into the public sewer. 

• Call 312-751-3044 between the hours of 8:45 am and 4:30 pm.
• Call 312-787-3575 afterhours for the system dispatcher.

We recommend immediately following up with an email to mwrd-ucts@mwrd.org after your call to confirm details.

Within 5 calendar days of the event, a written notification must be submitted to the MWRD, explaining the incident and corrective measures to prevent a recurrence. 

Failure to follow these steps constitutes significant noncompliance with the MWRD's Ordinance and will be handled accordingly. 

Facilities within the MWRD's service area are required to notify the PTCR group by phone within 24 hours of becoming aware of an effluent (wastewater) violation related to the Sewage and Waste Control Ordinance. This is most often a violation of a pollutant limit found in Appendices A or B, or as part of their Discharge Authorization permit. 

• Call 312-751-3044 or your facility account contact (see the phone list above) between the hours of 8:45 am and 4:30 pm.
• Immediately follow up with an email to mwrd-ucts@mwrd.org after your call to confirm details. If your analytical report that documents the violation is available, attach it to the email.

Regardless if the final analytical report shows a violation or not, you are required to report applicable data to the MWRD as soon as it is available. This should be with your facility account contact and the analytical report. At that time, the MWRD will review all applicable data and determine if enforcement action will be taken.

Failure to follow these steps constitutes significant noncompliance with the MWRD's Ordinance and will be handled accordingly. 

The PTCR Group handles documents for hundreds of industrial, commercial, and tax-exempt facilities every year, many subject to FOIA Requests. If you are looking for specific information, please review the types of forms and documents we require on the program pages, and please note some common limitations MWRD may ask to make responding to a FOIA possible.

• Date Range for Documents/Data: Most data and reports for the PTCR group are retained for 10 years. When submitting a request, please specify the period of time for the data or reports. If you suspect there is only one or you are only interested in the most current responsive document, you can state that. The most recent 5 years of documents are retained on-site at the MWRD's offices, with the next 5 years stored off-site. If you request those older documents, please be prepared for an extension request to allow the MWRD to recover those documents if they are not already in a digital format.
• Exhaustive Requests: The PTCR group manages files on hundreds of facilities. Requesting "all documents", "all data", or similar large batches can result in hundreds or thousands of pages in response. Narrowing the request to a single facility or a small number of facilities, along with being as specific on the type of information being sought, will accelerate the recovery and response times.
• Specify Facility/Site Location: Being as specific as to the location of the facility or site being sought will help in searching for data and documents. Many facilities may not be in our database under a common name. Providing a Facility ID if you know it, Parcel Index Number (PIN) from the Cook County Assessor, or the facility address will help in finding responsive documents quickly.
• Seasonal Delays: The PTCR group has deadlines throughout the year for specific facility filings, in some cases requiring rapid review and responsiveness. These generally occur in March, June, September, and December. Depending on how many responsive documents are involved, a request received during these times may be delayed while staff works to meet regulatory required deadlines.

Please take all these factors into account while preparing your request. If you are not sure if you are asking for too much, we will work with you to demarcate your request and get the documents to you as quickly as possible.