Water quality individual permits

We issue two types of individual permits, depending on where the facility discharges:

• National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits cover discharge to surface water.
• State Waste Discharge Permits (SWD) regulate discharge to either groundwater or publicly-owned wasteater facility.

In some cases, we issue a combined permits when a facility discharges to both ground and surface water.

What does a permit include?

Both types of permits contain standard or general conditions based on federal and state laws.

These include:

• Discharge limits for specific pollutants
• Monitoring and reporting requirements
• Operation and maintenance requirements

We may develop other special conditions depending on past performance. A fact sheet accompanies all permits to explain each individual permit requirement.

Individual National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits

We issue NPDES individual permits for all municipalities and industries discharging wastewater to surface water. We might include stormwater discharges from an industrial facility under the individual permit when coverage requirements are not met for the industrial stormwater general permit. These permits are a requirement of the federal Clean Water Act and EPA delegated us the authority to write these federal permits.This is a part of the NPDES delegation program.

Water quality pollution trading

Pollution trading, sometimes called water quality credit trading, uses the market concept to help achieve water quality goals. This is a potential option for permittees trying to meet effluent limits.  

Individual State Waste Discharge (SWD) permits

Municipal or Industrial to groundwater

We issue permits to municipalities and industries that discharge wastewater to groundwater through processes such as land treatment or infiltration. 

Industrial to publicly-owned wastewater facility - pretreatment

These permits, also called pretreatment permits, cover industries that discharge their wastewater to public sewage treatment plants, excluding industrial stormwater.

As allowed under federal and state law, we authorize some municipalities and sewer districts to write permits for industries discharging wastewater to their public utility sewer. The following municipalities have this pretreatment authority. If your buisiness is located in the areas listed in the table and plans to send your wastewater to their facility, contact them directly for details about their permitting process. For  industries in all other areas, contact Ecology to issue a permit.  

 401 Water Quality certifications

We ensure that federal projects meet state water quality standards. Under the federal Clean Water Act we can approve, condition, or deny federal projects proposed in Washington's surface waters or in waters of the United States. This includes wetlands when a federal permit is needed.

We also issue certifications for federal facilities and hydropower dams.

• EPA writes NPDES permits for federal facilities, and we issue water quality certifications for these.
• We work with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) licensing process for hydropower dams.

Application forms