The Gulf Coast Waste Disposal Authority (GCWDA) provides treatment for a variety of industrial wastewater streams from industrial facilities. The combination of wastewaters from multiple plants provides the opportunity for the efficient tratment of large volumes of wastewater and simplifies the regulatory concerns for numerous individual discharges. Customers of GCWDA, a public/private venture, include refineries, chemical plants, terminals, electric utilities, and manufacturing facilities. The paper describes the treatment process units comprising the system as well as the current mechanisms for characterizing waste streams in terms of acceptance criteria and charges for its customers. A summary of the capital and O&M costs to operated their own wastewater plants independently. Lessons learned from the operation of the Authority are explored in the light of the potential applicability of this concept in Argentina.