Washington Water Pollution Discharge Permits
Under the Clean Water Act, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) may authorize states to issue permits to dischargers of water pollution. Even so, these permits must meet the requirements of federal law as well as state law. Washington’s Department of Ecology issues these Clean Water Act permits to all industrial and municipal dischargers in Washington other than those on federal or tribal lands, which EPA regulates.
Busting the Myth that Permitted Pollution Sources Have Cleaned Up
There is a myth that so-called point sources—the dischargers that require the Clean Water Act’s National Discharge Pollutant Elimination System (NPDES) permits—are largely controlled and that the nation’s pollution problems are primarily caused by non-point sources, the polluted runoff from lands. While nonpoint source pollution is a major, uncontrolled problem, point sources are far from adequately controlled.
There are many reasons for this. First, the EPA is required to establish minimum treatment standards to ensure that pollution is minimized no matter where the source is located. But EPA has been very slow to complete and to update these national effluent guidelines. And EPA has not increased the requirements for municipal dischargers for many years despite its having concluded that towns and cities are a major source of nutrient pollution that is not removed through use of the currently-required minimum technology called “secondary treatment.” Washington does not step into the breach; the Department of Ecology is more than willing to let polluters keep polluting.
Second, states are required to evaluate whether discharges will cause or contribute to violations of state goals, established as water quality standards. Instead, states like Washington devise creative work-arounds to federal regulations and often ignore them altogether. As a consequence, the Department of Ecology issues more permits without limits on toxics and other problem pollutants than it does with limits. And it tends to leave out requirements that permittees monitor their discharges and the quality of the water into which they discharge.
Third, there is the EPA-devised concept of “mixing zones.” Even though permits are required to prevent dischargers from causing or contributing to violations of water quality standards, Ecology routinely includes mixing zones—areas of rivers and marine waters where permittees may lawfully violate standards. There is a saying that “dilution is not the solution to water pollution” but, in fact, it is the solution preferred by Ecology and EPA. Ecology uses mixing zones to allow virtually unlimited toxic discharges to Puget Sound.
Last, industries located in cities are allowed to discharge into sewage collection systems, diluting their toxic wastes with water from sinks and stormwater from roads. These industries are called “pretreaters” and, while they are subject to some restrictions, they gain significant advantages from this built-in dilution. States, such as Washington, could increase requirements on such pretreaters to restrict pollution beyond federal requirements, but they do not.
Permits to Discharge Pollution to Puget Sound Prove the System is Broken
In 2017, NWEA evaluated 103 permits held by municipal and industrial sources to discharge to Puget Sound and its tributaries. The analysis was focused on discharges of nitrogen, a pollutant that sucks the oxygen out of the water and is radically modifying the food web of the Sound. NWEA asked EPA to get involved and put a stop to these illegal permits that are causing and contributing to violations of Washington water quality standards.
• How can Ecology keep issuing so many illegal permits? One answer is that EPA is failing to make sure that Ecology’s permits follow the law. The other answer is the bag of tricks that Ecology uses to avoid the pollution limits that are required by law. These include:
• Pretending that Puget Sound water quality is good. Despite millions of dollars of its own studies showing that human sources of nitrogen are sucking the dissolved oxygen out of Puget Sound, Ecology claims the water is clean.
• Asserting that it can keep issuing illegal permits until it has a master plan. The Clean Water Act prohibits states from issuing permits without pollution controls even if the state has not completed clean-up plans for reducing pollution.
• Claiming there is no new information. Approximately 17 percent of permits issued by Ecology for discharges to Puget Sound are issued without any evaluation of whether permit limits should be changed, an evaluation required by law.
• Pretending nitrogen is no problem in Puget Sound because it’s diluted. Ecology claims that nitrogen in sewage discharges is diluted after coming out of pipes even as it admits that nitrogen causes effects “many miles away.”
• Ignoring its own water quality standards. Water quality standards are more than just the numbers. Ecology is also charged with protecting the species—salmon, herring, orca—that depend upon a healthy Puget Sound.
• Ignoring other nitrogen sources in Puget Sound. The Clean Water Act requires that limits in a permits be based on the effect of all nitrogen sources combined, a fact Ecology ignores.
• Claiming that existing pollution control technology is sufficient. Federal minimum treatment for sewage treatment plants is not intended to remove nitrogen. The Clean Water Act requires analysis of water quality effects of discharges.