Updates to the surface water quality standards

We update the surface water quality standards to incorporate the latest science and to meet our priorities and commitments regarding the standards.

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Learn about current rulemaking
Find out more information about the human health criteria
Get technical assistance implementing the standards

Current actions

The following information highlights the most recent actions related to the water quality standards in Washington.

Human Health Criteria

On Nov. 15, 2016, EPA partially approved and partially disapproved certain human health criteria that Ecology submitted to EPA on Aug. 1, 2016.

On May 10, 2019, EPA released a statement that they are reversing their 2016 decision and approving the human health criteria standards Washington submitted in 2016.

On July 23, 2019, EPA announced a proposed rule to withdraw the federal water quality standards for certain human health criteria in Washington (40 CFR 131.45). Information on EPA's actions and process is available on their website.

The following are responses to EPA's actions from Ecology and other state agencies along with our press releases and formal comments on the rulemaking.

Current rulemaking

We use the rulemaking process to meet our priorities and commitments regarding the standards.

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.

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:

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

Visit the rulemaking page for more information.

This rulemaking covers multiple revisions including changing 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.

Visit the rulemaking page for more information.

We are considering changes to Washington's surface water quality standards. These changes aim to better protect water quality and physical habitat for incubating eggs and young salmon in rivers and streams. Our goal is to ensure salmon nests, called redds, have enough oxygen to support early life stages of salmon. We also want to better protect these early life stages of salmon from the harmful effects of too much fine sediment in the water.

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

Triennial review

Federal regulations require that we periodically hold public hearings to review surface water quality standards. This process is called a triennial review. This review gives us an opportunity to discuss priorities and commitments to update surface water quality standards.

The latest triennial review for our surface water quality standards was held from Nov. 1, 2010 through Dec. 17, 2010. We are not going through a triennial review currently because we are already have a clear path of immediate priorities for rulemaking, see current actions above.

We reviewed all comments received during the comment period and developed a five-year plan of prioritized topics. We also created a responsiveness summary based on comments received, including our response to each comment.

Rulemaking process

When it is necessary to update the standards we go through the rulemaking process. We select the topics for rulemaking based on which actions will make the greatest environmental and/or administrative benefits.

Topics are prioritized based on:

The expected environmental benefits.
Changes in science
Federal mandates or legal requirements.
Requests for specific updates.

Contact information

Marla Koberstein
Water Quality Standards Project Manager - Rulemaking
swqs@ecy.wa.gov
360-407-6413

Chad Brown
Water Quality Standards Unit Supervisor - Triennial review
swqs@ecy.wa.gov
360-407-6128

For questions about toxics pollutants (aquatic life, human health), variances:
swqs@ecy.wa.gov

Bryson Finch
Water Quality Standards Specialist - Conventional pollutants (temperature, bacterial indicators)
bryson.finch@ecy.wa.gov
360-407-7158

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