Current actions
The following information highlights the most recent actions related to the water quality standards in Washington.
Human health criteria
On May 13, 2020, EPA published the final rule in the Federal Register to withdraw the federal water quality standards for certain human health criteria in Washington (40 CFR 131.45). The final rule went into effect on June 12, 2020.
This means that the federal criteria for arsenic, methylmercury, and bis (2-chloro-1-methylethyl) ether remain in place for Washington. All other human health criteria in place for Washington are listed in WAC 173-201A-240, Toxic Substances Criteria.
Timeline
- Nov. 15, 2016 – EPA partially approved and partially disapproved certain human health criteria that Ecology submitted to EPA on Aug. 1, 2016
- 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.
- July 23, 2019 – EPA announced a draft rule to withdraw the federal water quality standards for certain human health criteria in Washington (40 CFR 131.45).
- April 16, 2020 – EPA announced their final rule to withdraw the federal water quality standards for certain human health criteria in Washington (40 CFR 131.45), no effective date stated.
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 Public Utility District No. 1 of Chelan County (Chelan PUD) has returned year-round flows to the Chelan River. Chelan PUD has also 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 for the aquatic life designated use on the Chelan River to better reflect current and historical uses.
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:
Note: Applications are large files and may take a little bit to download.
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.
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
Bryson Finch
Toxics Water Quality Standards Scientist- Toxic pollutants
bryson.finch@ecy.wa.gov
360-407-7158
For questions about conventional pollutants (temperature, bacterial indicators):
swqs@ecy.wa.gov