Pretreatment Program


​Silver Best Management Practices (BMPs)

Requirements for Facilities Conducting On-Site Silver Recovery

  • Facilities conducting silver recovery on-site must perform monthly (or more frequent if desired) tests using silver test paper or copper strips to verify that the silver recovery equipment is functioning properly. The results of these silver strip tests must be kept on site at your facility for at least three years in a designated logbook. These tests should be performed weekly.
  • Facilities conducting on-site silver recovery must maintain operation and maintenance records for silver recovery equipment in a designated logbook. These records are to be kept on site at your facility for a minimum of three years.
  • Facilities conducting on-site silver recovery must conduct the specified number of analytical tests on the influent (prior to recovery) and effluent (after recovery) from their silver recovery units in order to verify silver recovery percentage for facilities of that size.
  • Facilities conducting on-site silver recovery must verify analytic test results and percent recovery to the Pretreatment Program annually by January 31st. These results are to be recorded on the Silver BMP Letter of Participation  form that must be submitted by January 31st.

Small facilities must perform at least one analytical test annually and large facilities must perform at least two analytical tests annually and report the results of both tests by the January 31st deadline. All analytical tests must be conducted by state certified laboratories and in accordance with the provisions of 40 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Part 136.