Puget Sound Nutrient General Permit

Discharges of excess nutrients — particularly nitrogen — to the Puget Sound from public domestic wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are contributing to low oxygen levels in the Puget Sound and the rest of the Salish Sea. The Clean Water Act and federal rules require WWTPs that contribute to water quality impairments, by discharging excess nutrients, take action to prevent this pollution. The Puget Sound Nutrient General Permit is designed to address excess nutrients from the identified 58 domestic wastewater facilities discharging to the Washington Salish Sea.

In summer 2025, Ecology accepted public comments on a draft. Based on the feedback we received, as well as legal rulings on permit appeals, Ecology chose not to pursue the general permit. Instead we are addressing nitrogen discharges in the Puget Sound with individual permits for the wastewater treatment plants that were formerly covered under the general permit.

I want to...

Sign up for Individual Permit notifications
Learn about the 2025 permit process
Read the 2025 focus sheet

How to sign up for interested party lists

Because we are not continuing with General Permit and instead regulating nutrients from wastewater treatment facilities through individual permits, we will no longer be using the Nutrient General Permit email list to notify people about draft individual permits.

If you are still interested in wastewater treatment permitting actions for the facilities that were previously covered under the Nutrient General Permit, please sign up to be on the interested party lists. We will send an email announcement to the regional interested party list when Ecology releases a draft individual permit and associated fact sheet for public comment.

To request to be on the interested parties list, please send an email to the Northwest Region or the Southwest region with:

Your name
Your email address
The name or location of the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) that you are interested in receiving announcements about

*Note you can use one email to request multiple facilities/counties at once.

Facility list

The table below lists all of the facilities and the region that is managing the interested party list.

County	Facility	Sign-up email
Island	Coupeville	nwrowqpermits@ecy.wa.gov
Island	Langley	nwrowqpermits@ecy.wa.gov
Island	Oak Harbor	nwrowqpermits@ecy.wa.gov
Island	Penn Cove	nwrowqpermits@ecy.wa.gov
King	South King County	nwrowqpermits@ecy.wa.gov
King	Vashon	nwrowqpermits@ecy.wa.gov
King	West Point	nwrowqpermits@ecy.wa.gov
King	Lakota	nwrowqpermits@ecy.wa.gov
King	Midway Sewer District	nwrowqpermits@ecy.wa.gov
King	Miller Creek	nwrowqpermits@ecy.wa.gov
King	Redondo	nwrowqpermits@ecy.wa.gov
King	Salmon Creek	nwrowqpermits@ecy.wa.gov
Kitsap	Bainbridge Island	nwrowqpermits@ecy.wa.gov
Kitsap	Bremerton	nwrowqpermits@ecy.wa.gov
Kitsap	Sewer District #7 Water Reclamation Facility	nwrowqpermits@ecy.wa.gov
Kitsap	Central Kitsap	nwrowqpermits@ecy.wa.gov
Kitsap	Kingston	nwrowqpermits@ecy.wa.gov
Kitsap	Manchester	nwrowqpermits@ecy.wa.gov
Kitsap	Messenger House Care Center	nwrowqpermits@ecy.wa.gov
Kitsap	Port Orchard/South Kitsap Reclamation	nwrowqpermits@ecy.wa.gov
Pierce	Gig Harbor	nwrowqpermits@ecy.wa.gov
Pierce	McNeil Island Special Commitment Center	nwrowqpermits@ecy.wa.gov
Pierce	Taylor Bay	nwrowqpermits@ecy.wa.gov
San Juan	Eastsound Orcas Village	nwrowqpermits@ecy.wa.gov
San Juan	Eastsound Sewer and Water District	nwrowqpermits@ecy.wa.gov
San Juan	Fisherman Bay	nwrowqpermits@ecy.wa.gov
San Juan	Friday Harbor	nwrowqpermits@ecy.wa.gov
San Juan	Roche Harbor Resort	nwrowqpermits@ecy.wa.gov
San Juan	Rosario	nwrowqpermits@ecy.wa.gov
Skagit	Anacortes	nwrowqpermits@ecy.wa.gov
Skagit	La Conner	nwrowqpermits@ecy.wa.gov
Skagit	Mt. Vernon	nwrowqpermits@ecy.wa.gov
Skagit	Skagit County Sewer District 2 Big Lake	nwrowqpermits@ecy.wa.gov
Snohomish	Alderwood Sewage Treatment Plant	nwrowqpermits@ecy.wa.gov
Snohomish	Edmonds	nwrowqpermits@ecy.wa.gov
Snohomish	Everett	nwrowqpermits@ecy.wa.gov
Snohomish	King County, Brightwater	nwrowqpermits@ecy.wa.gov
Snohomish	Lake Stevens Sewer District	nwrowqpermits@ecy.wa.gov
Snohomish	Lynnwood	nwrowqpermits@ecy.wa.gov
Snohomish	Marysville	nwrowqpermits@ecy.wa.gov
Snohomish	Mukilteo Water and Wastewater District	nwrowqpermits@ecy.wa.gov
Snohomish	Snohomish	nwrowqpermits@ecy.wa.gov
Snohomish	Stanwood	nwrowqpermits@ecy.wa.gov
Snohomish	WA Parks Larrabee	nwrowqpermits@ecy.wa.gov
Whatcom	Birch Bay	nwrowqpermits@ecy.wa.gov
Whatcom	Lighthouse Point WRF/Blaine	nwrowqpermits@ecy.wa.gov
Whatcom	Post Point/Bellingham	nwrowqpermits@ecy.wa.gov
Whatcom	Warm Beach Campground	nwrowqpermits@ecy.wa.gov
Clallam	Clallam Bay	swrowqpermits@ecy.wa.gov
Clallam	Clallam Bay Corrections Center	swrowqpermits@ecy.wa.gov
Clallam	Port Angeles	swrowqpermits@ecy.wa.gov
Clallam	Sekiu	swrowqpermits@ecy.wa.gov
Clallam	Sequim	swrowqpermits@ecy.wa.gov
Jefferson	Port Townsend	swrowqpermits@ecy.wa.gov
Mason	Rustlewood	swrowqpermits@ecy.wa.gov
Mason	Shelton	swrowqpermits@ecy.wa.gov
Pierce	Chambers Creek/Pierce County	swrowqpermits@ecy.wa.gov
Pierce	Tacoma Central	swrowqpermits@ecy.wa.gov
Pierce	Tacoma North	swrowqpermits@ecy.wa.gov
Thurston	Boston Harbor	swrowqpermits@ecy.wa.gov
Thurston	Hartstene Pointe	swrowqpermits@ecy.wa.gov
Thurston	LOTT Budd Inlet	swrowqpermits@ecy.wa.gov
Thurston	Tamoshan	swrowqpermits@ecy.wa.gov

2025 permit process

In February 2025, the Pollution Control Hearings Board (PCHB) invalidated the Puget Sound Nutrient General Permit "insofar as it is mandatory" and remanded the permit back to Ecology for further action. In April 2025, we sent a letter to permittees terminating their coverage and providing an overview of possible next steps.

We proposed to reissue the permit with changes to allow facilities to opt in and apply for permit coverage. We provided a public notice of the draft general permit, issued a news release, and accepted public comments from June 18, 2025, through Aug. 27, 2025. In early July we hosted a public meeting with an informational presentation and question and answer session to help explain the draft permit's proposed changes. A second public informational meeting paired with a formal hearing was held on July 22, 2025, providing opportunity for formal spoken testimony on the draft permit. We received comments online, by mail, and during our public hearing.

We initially considered the general permit as an appropriate tool for our long-term strategy to reduce nitrogen discharges and improve water quality in Puget Sound. However, based on the feedback we received in 2025, as well as legal rulings on permit appeals, we are not reissuing the Puget Sound Nutrient General Permit. We will use each facility’s individual permit to set nutrient control requirements. Any proposed changes to a facility’s individual permit includes a formal public review process.

For more information see our focus sheet.

2025 draft permit documents

map of puget sound with all WWTP marked as small or dominant loader. Contact Ecology for more info — The Permit covers 58 wastewater facilities that discharge to Puget Sound. Seven of those facilities are dominant loaders contributing over 80% of the nutrients.

Brief history of the general permit

We held a public process to decide if we should use a general permit or individual permits to control nutrients. In January 2020, with support, we announced our decision to move forward with developing a draft Nutrient General Permit. During 2020, we worked with the General Permit Advisory Committee to develop recommendations for permit conditions. We held public reviews of a preliminary draft, then in Summer 2021 we developed a formal draft, held another comment period, and finalized the permit in December 2021. Several parties appealed the permit (see Appeals of the general permit).

Based on comments on the draft released in summer 2025, and legal rulings, we decided to use individual permits to address nitrogen discharges for the 58 domestic wastewater treatment plants.

More permit information

General permit appeals:

Several municipalities, two environmental groups, and the Suquamish Tribe appealed the general permit. On Feb. 28, 2025, the Pollution Control Hearings Board invalidated the Puget Sound Nutrient General Permit “insofar as it is mandatory for already-permitted dischargers” and remanded the permit to Ecology for further action. We sent a letter to permittees with additional information about possible next steps.

You can visit the Pollution Control Hearings Board and use the Case Search Tool.

Legal challenges to the process:

City of Tacoma et al., filed legal challenges to the general permit in both Pierce County and Thurston County Superior Courts. The Pierce County case was dismissed, and the Thurston County case resulted in an adverse decision (January 2023), essentially stating that a letter Ecology wrote denying a petition for rulemaking was a rule. We appealed that decision to the Court of Appeals.

The Court of Appeals issued a decision (September 2023) acknowledging wastewater treatment plants are contributing to low dissolved oxygen in Puget Sound. However, the court concluded that a letter we wrote denying a petition for rulemaking is a rule and nutrient limits referenced in that letter are unlawful. We disagreed and filed a Petition for Review with the State Supreme Court (October 2023).

The State Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision (September 2024) supporting the process we're using for regulating excess nutrients. Specifically, the court concluded that the letter we wrote was not a rule and we followed proper process.

We developed a Financial Capability Assessment Guide. This guide helps permittees look at the financial impact to their communities and identify economically reasonable levels of wastewater treatment in the context of AKART (all known, available and reasonable methods of prevention, control, and treatment). We also provided an Excel worksheet tool and a focus sheet that covers common questions.

In March 2020, we convened a General Permit Advisory Committee to advise us in drafting general permit requirements for domestic wastewater treatment plants discharging to Puget Sound. This Advisory Committee was comprised of regional treatment-plant representatives, state agencies, the EPA, and the environmental community. Committee members met throughout 2020 to develop recommendations for permit conditions, and they brought a diverse array of ideas and concerns to the table. View the list of members and previous meeting materials.

Contact information

Lucienne Banning
General Permit Unit Supervisor
lucienne.banning@ecy.wa.gov
360-407-6400