Draft Release and Public Review

The draft of the modified portions of the general permit and fact sheet are available on the Industrial Stormwater General Permit webpage. The public is invited to review and comment on the draft modifications from 9 a.m. Aug. 19, 2026, through 11:59 p.m. Oct. 2, 2026.

Ecology is only accepting comments on the changes proposed in the modification. Please keep comments focused only on the changes proposed. We ask that comments reference specific text, permit condition(s), and page number(s) in your comments whenever possible. It is also helpful if you describe the nature of your concern and propose any potential solutions or changes to permit language. Provide references or other supporting documentation when appropriate and available. For tips and instructions on submitting comments visit: How to submit comments to us.

Draft modification

Ecology proposes to modify the 2025 Industrial Stormwater General Permit. We are only proposing changes to the current expiration date (December 2029) and the duty to reapply date, to make them a year earlier. Changing these dates will allow us to release the next version of the general permit in 2029 instead of 2030. We are proposing this draft modification to help our internal workload (create more space between this permit and another major general permit) and follow terms in a settlement agreement.

To make this change, Ecology proposes to:

• Move the current Industrial Stormwater General Permit expiration date a year early: from Dec. 31, 2029, to Dec. 31, 2028.
• Change the subsequent duty to reapply date from July 3, 2029, to July 3, 2028. Duty to reapply tells permittees they must reapply for coverage within 180 days of the expiration date of the permit.

Purpose of the permit

This permit limits the discharge of pollutants to surface waters under the authority of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act – Title 33 United States Code (U.S.C.) Section 1251 – and limits the discharge of pollutants to surface and groundwater under the authority of the State Water Pollution Control Act – Chapter 90.48 Revised Code of Washington (RCW). When the permitted activities conducted by a specific class of industries are similar, Ecology issues a general permit to cover all of them, rather than issuing a series of individual permits.

Next steps

After Ecology receives and considers all public comments, we will prepare a response to comments and describe any changes to the draft permit. We expect to make a final decision on the modification of the general permit October 2026.