Updates to the surface water quality standards

• July 2, 2021 Director Watson statement 
• April 17, 2020 Director Watson statement
• Oct. 6, 2019 Director Bellon written comments
• Sept. 25, 2019 Director Bellon's testimony at EPA public hearing
• Aug. 28, 2019 webinar public hearing testimony
• July 22, 2019 Director Bellon letter about EPA public hearings
• June 12, 2019 Director Bellon letter to EPA
• June 6, 2019 Attorney General news release
• May 10, 2019 Governor and Attorney General response 
• May 7, 2019 Director Bellon letter to EPA
• April 10, 2019 Ecology news release 

Visit our rulemaking page for more information. 

The rulemaking would adopt one or more variances to the water quality standards for organic compounds known as polychlorinated biphenyls or PCBs. We are considering the variances in response to applications received from point source dischargers to the Spokane River.

Read our June 10, 2020 press release regarding the status of this rulemaking.

Applications for variances received 

Facilities discharging into the Spokane River must meet Washington's water quality standards, which were revised and strengthened by rule in 2016. There are five facilities that have permits to discharge wastewater into the Spokane River. We are working with the dischargers on a path to meet the water quality standard for PCBs through step-by-step reductions via a variance. All five dischargers, three municipal and two industrial, applied for a variance:

• Inland Empire Paper Company
• Kaiser Aluminum Washington – Trentwood
• Liberty Lake Sewer and Water District – Water Reclamation Facility
• City of Spokane – Riverside Park Water Reclamation Facility
• Spokane County Regional Water Reclamation Facility

Note:  Applications are large files and may take a little bit to download.

Visit the rulemaking page for more information.

We adopted changes to Washington's surface water quality standards. These changes better protect water quality and physical habitat for incubating eggs and young salmon in rivers and streams. The changes will further ensure salmon nests, called redds, have enough oxygen to support early life stages of salmon. We also added better protection to these early life stages of salmon from the harmful effects of too much fine sediment that can clog important spawning gravels where redds are located.

Read our blog to find out more about how this rulemaking better protects salmon.

Visit our rulemaking page for more information.

We made changes to the aquatic life designated use of salmonid spawning, rearing, and migration on the Chelan River through a use attainability analysis (UAA) and rulemaking process. These adopted changes to the designated uses and criteria for the Chelan River were in response to a rulemaking request from the Public Utility District No. 1 of Chelan County (Chelan PUD).

Chelan PUD returned year-round flows to the Chelan River and established habitat along the river, and conducted a 10-year monitoring and adaptive management program to meet spawning, survival, and habitat use objectives for Chinook salmon, steelhead, and resident fish. Following this work, Chelan PUD submitted a request for a Use Attainability Analysis rulemaking for the aquatic life designated use on the Chelan River to better reflect current and historical uses.

A UAA is an approved water quality tool in Washington’s surface water quality standards (WAC 173-201A-440) and is used for removing or revising a designated use for a water body only if that use is not existing or attainable. A UAA is a scientific assessment of the physical, chemical, biological, and economic factors that may affect the attainment of the use.

Visit the rulemaking page for more information. 

This rulemaking adopted multiple revisions including changes to the numeric criteria for total dissolved gas in the Snake and Columbia rivers. We adopted changes to the total dissolved gas criteria to allow more water to spill over dams to help salmon migrate. Read our blog to learn about the environmental impacts of allowing more water over the dams.

The Triennial Review is a public involvement opportunity that helps inform and prioritize revisions to the surface water quality standards for the next three years. This is not a rulemaking process; rather, it is a planning process to help guide actions necessary to keep the standards current.

Each rulemaking project identified as a priority will have its own public process to formally comment on proposed rule changes, in accordance with Washington’s Administrative Procedures Act (APA) at Chapter 34.05 Revised Code of Washington (RCW). Priorities identified in a triennial review will be incorporate as commitments Ecology's Performance Partnership Agreement with EPA.