An industrial waste survey is one component of a comprehensive industrial waste control program. Communities throughout California and the nation are finding it necessary to conduct these surveys of industrial waste discharges o their sewerage systems. This paper discusses the reasons for performing industrial waste surveys. We also present an overall approach to the conduct of industrial waste surveys, and describe some of the field techniques and the equipment used for the surveys. We illustrate the discussion with some experiences that Brown and Caldwell engineers have had while assisting communities in accomplishing these surveys.