Water Quality

A growing state with growing pollution problems

Washington's growing population is putting ever-increasing pressures on lakes, rivers, marine water, and groundwater. Fish, shellfish, and other aquatic animals require cool, clean water to survive and people need clean water to drink. But, with more people living in Washington, there is more pollution than ever. The pollution threats are diverse. They include warm water temperatures, low levels of oxygen in the water for fish to breathe, acidic water, toxic chemicals, and bacteria. Pollution can come from a singe source, that is, a pipe or discharge from a business, or from rain that washes pollution into our rivers and streams. This pollution that doesnt come from a single source is called, nonpoint pollution and it is a leading threat to the health of rivers, lakes, wetlands, and marine water across the state. 

Rooted in Federal and State laws, we set the bar for how clean the water needs to be, these are called the water quality standards. Our goal is for all rivers, lakes, marine water, and groundwater to meet these state standards. We evaluate data and create a list, (303d list) of waterbodies that do not meet standards and need a plan to be cleaned up. We work with communities and partners to develop these water cleanup plans also called (Total Maximum Daily Loads, or TMDLs). We administer a permit system that places limits on how much pollution industries and municipalities can add to any water body with special restrictions on adding to water that is already polluted. We provide technical and financial assistance to help everyone use best practices to prevent pollution whenever possible and clean up and work to restore waterbodies that are already impacted. 

Reduce water pollution from communities, buisnesses, or industries

When pollution "flows down a drain", we treat this as a point source pollution, meaning it has a known point it flows from. We regulate this type of pollution of surface and groundwater by writing and managing wastewater discharge permits for sewage treatment facilities, industrial facilities, and other businesses and industries that create wastewater. We:

• Help dischargers comply with existing permits.
• Make permits understandable and effective in protecting water quality.
• Work to increase the use of reclaimed water.

Cleanup polluted water

We help local communities and businesses clean up polluted waters to meet water quality standards. We:

• Assess state water and update the list of polluted waterbodies.
• Work with communities to clean up nonpoint source pollution.
• Identify Best Management Practices (BMPs) for nonpoint pollution sources.

Reduce and prevent nonpoint water pollution

Nonpoint source pollution doesn't come from a single source. Instead, it comes from many sources. For example, rain or melting snow can wash pollutants off the land and into rivers or streams. It can also occur when lack of shade-providing plants next to streams contributes to higher water temperatures or when animal waste or leaking septic tanks directly flow into streams. Solving the nonpoint pollution problem will require everybody's behavior to change, as well as better land management and structural management practices. Here's what we're doing about it. We:

• Work with partners to identify pollution problems, and then follow up with landowners to offer options and funding to help them fix water pollution problems.
• Provide grants and loans to help people use best management practices to prevent pollution.
• Make sure forest practices are on a path to meet water quality standards.
• Provide a regulatory backstop to protect downstream users from the negative impacts of nonpoint source water pollution.

Stormwater

We help local governments build stormwater programs in cities and counties. Our stormwater permits cover municipalities, industries, and construction projects. We:

• Help dischargers improve compliance with existing stormwater permits.
• Work to ensure that having a permit is not a competitive disadvantage.
• Help dischargers reduce contaminated stormwater run-off from their sites.

Provide financial assistance

We award approximately $200 million in clean water funding each year and continue to manage approximately 600 active grants and loans. We:

• Provide effective and efficient financial and technical assistance to manage projects with the highest benefit to human health and the environment.
• Capture environmental data and demonstrate the environmental benefits of the grant and loan program.
• Help grant and loan recipients properly manage public funds with a high level of integrity and accountability.
• Effectively manage new stormwater capital improvement grants for cities and counties.
• Continue to develop an ongoing, comprehensive, statewide stormwater financial assistance program for local governments.