Ecology considers General Permit to control nutrients in Puget Sound

Excess nutrients are hurting Puget Sound

Puget Sound is the nation’s second largest estuary 

and faces many challenges, including population 

growth, development, and pollution.

Excess levels of nutrients from human sources are harming Puget Sound’s water quality. Excess nutrients can cause too much plant and algae growth that ultimately leads to low levels (below natural levels) of dissolved oxygen in many parts of Puget Sound. These low levels of dissolved oxygen are causing stress on marine life and making it difficult for aquatic organisms to thrive. Many areas in Puget Sound have dissolved oxygen levels below our state’s water quality criteria and Ecology is required to take action.

To improve and protect water quality in Puget Sound, we are focused on finding solutions for improving levels of dissolved oxygen in Puget Sound. Domestic wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), or sewage treatment plants, are a major human source of nutrients to Puget Sound and are significantly contributing to low oxygen levels (read our Salish Sea Modeling reports for more info). With our region’s growing population, and recognizing that WWTP improvements to limit nutrients will take time, we need to start work now to protect and restore Puget Sound. To keep Puget Sound clean, Ecology must require WWTPs to control nutrients and we have made a preliminary determination to use a General Permit to accomplish this.

Controlling nutrients from WWTPs with a Puget Sound Nutrients General Permit

Wastewater is the water that leaves our businesses and

 homes from sources like sinks, showers, and toilets. 

There are two permitting options to control nutrients at WWTPs:

• New General Permit: Require nutrient limits for WWTPs that discharge to Puget Sound (in addition to their existing individual permits that cover other limits).
• Individual Permits: Include nutrient limits in each individual permit for WWTPs that discharge to Puget Sound.

We have made a preliminary determination that a general permit is the best tool for addressing excess nutrients in Puget Sound. A Puget Sound Nutrients General Permit would:

• Create a single coordinated public engagement process, allowing more stakeholder collaboration during permit development. 
• Place WWTPs on a similar schedule instead of staggered permit requirements based on different individual permit schedules. 
• Provide a foundation for communities to work together to achieve nutrient controls across Puget Sound.

General vs. Individual permits

All wastewater treatment plants require a water quality permit to operate, specifically to discharge to surface water. We use permits to limit pollutants that may enter our waterways. Both types of permits (general and individual) are issued on 5-year cycles, allowing us to adapt requirements in response to new information and technologies.

A general permit covers a group of dischargers that have similar qualities within a similar region. We can use a general permit to satisfy any or all state and federal water quality permit requirements. General permits are a cost-effective way to regulate numerous dischargers under a single permit. It allows us to hold a single permit development and implementation process per 5-year cycle for all the facilities together. This process includes stakeholder and permittee engagement.

The other permitting option is using individual permits, which we tailor to individual facilities. We issue each individual permit on independent schedules consistent with facility-specific permit renewal and reissuance dates, and a public comment process.

How would a Nutrients General Permit work? 

A Puget Sound Nutrients General Permit would apply to nearly 70 WWTPs that discharge to marine and estuarine waters of Puget Sound. A Nutrients General Permit would focus only on controlling nutrients. All WWTPs already have individual permits that regulate other pollutants. Therefore, WWTPs would have two permits.

We are at the earliest stage of a general permit process and it is too soon to know the exact permit conditions. If we move forward with the general permit, the permit development process will determine:

• Which WWTPs will be included in the general permit.
• How to cap nutrient loading.
• What planning will be needed to meet nutrient reduction targets, starting with optimizing nutrient reduction with existing infrastructure, the feasibility of infrastructure upgrades, or other water quality improvement efforts.

Public comment period for the Preliminary Determination to Develop a Nutrients General Permit

We are accepting comments from Aug. 21 until Oct. 21, 2019 on our preliminary determination to develop a Nutrients General Permit. You may submit comments online.

We welcome your feedback on whether a general permit is the appropriate tool to control and reduce nutrients in discharges from WWTPs to Puget Sound. This public comment period is also an opportunity to provide us other relevant information about WWTPs and Puget Sound water quality.

For more information on the nutrients problem, the permit proposal, and how to comment, read our focus sheet. We do not currently have draft permit language. However, if we move forward with a general permit, we will prepare draft permit language and hold another public comment period.

You can find all of this information and additional materials on our General Permits webpage.

Other States with general permits for nutrients

Other states have used general permits to reduce the impacts of nutrients on their coastal waters.  In March, our Puget Sound Nutrient Forum hosted water quality experts from Chesapeake Bay and Long Island Sound to hear about their general permit process and other strategies they used to reduce nutrients in their waterways. Both of these estuaries have experienced success in cleaning up excess nutrients in their waterways and are on their way to improved water quality and restored marine habitats. Read our previous blog to learn more about how other states manage nutrients in their coastal estuaries.

What else is Ecology doing to reduce nutrients?

The Nutrient Forum, a large public advisory 
committee, meets regularly to provide input 

on how to reduce human sources of nutrients.

Limiting nutrients at WWTPs is one important element of Ecology’s Puget Sound Nutrient Reduction Project, but this alone will not solve Puget Sound’s low dissolved oxygen problem.  In order to improve Puget Sound and build resiliency back into our iconic water, we will also need to reduce nutrients from other human sources. We are working with the Puget Sound Nutrient Forum to develop a comprehensive Puget Sound Nutrient Management Plan to find the right solutions for reducing nutrients in Puget Sound. As we develop the plan, we will continue to hold our Puget Sound Nutrient Reduction Forum meetings and encourage everyone interested in this work to attend the meetings and sign up for our listserv.

More information:

To receive email updates about this potential general permitting effort, register for the Nutrients Permit listserv.

To receive updates on the broader Puget Sound Nutrient Reduction Project, register for the Puget Sound Nutrient Reduction listserv or visit www.ecology.wa.gov/PSNRP.

By Kelly Ferron, Water Quality Program

New career opportunities with the Wastewater Operator-in-Training Program

Ecology is growing the operator certification training program by adding three new Operator-in-Training levels.

Recently, we announced awards for the top-performing wastewater treatment plants and their operators. This week, we are excited to announce new career opportunities are now available through our Operator-in-Training (OIT) program.

Why Wastewater Treatment Plant Operators matter

Anything that goes down the sink or toilet ends up at a wastewater treatment plant (treatment plant).  Treatment plants are the frontlines of public health and environmental safety as they work around the clock to clean up our wastewater before it goes into Washington's rivers, lakes, streams, and Puget Sound.

Wastewater treatment operator drawing by 

James R Davis, Senior Gardener for South 

King County Wastewater Treatment Plant 

Wastewater treatment plant operators are the unsung heroes, responsible for ensuring treatment plants keep functioning properly and cleaning the wastewater. These operators have an undeniably important role in keeping Washington’s waters clean.

“Washington’s growing population creates a greater need for wastewater treatment every day. Talented and proficient plant operators are critical to meeting this challenge,” said Ecology Water Quality Program Manager Heather Bartlett. “There are jobs to be had, and we encourage people to go into this field to help serve the public and protect the environment.”

Because their work is so critical to the protection of public health and the environment, Ecology certifies wastewater treatment plant operators to help ensure that they are knowledgeable and able to properly operate and maintain wastewater treatment plants. We certify operators based on wastewater operating experience, relevant experience, and education. We are growing our operator certification training program by adding three new Operator in Training (OIT) Group Levels. 

Why Add Operator in Training Group Levels?

Ecology added new OIT Group levels II-IV to incentivize and encourage entry into, and growth within, the profession. This program creates more pathways for operators to advance to higher group levels. It also helps managers at treatment plants to plan for their most experienced operators’ retirements.

How did we design the OIT levels? 

We listened to operators. In 2018, we conducted a survey and formed a stakeholder Rule Advisory Committee (RAC). The RAC—made up of certified operators, statewide, from each group level—came together to advise us on the necessary changes to the rule. We then released an informal draft of our proposal for public comment. This past spring we held a formal comment period on the new levels.

During the survey and the RAC meetings, wastewater operators voiced their concern about the number of operators retiring from the workforce and the challenges for new operators entering the industry. We have repeatedly heard how important it is to get entry into this field and to promote growth from within the talented pool of operators that the state certifies. These OIT group levels help us do that. 

How it Works

A certified operator for the City of Enumclaw is cleaning a
secondary clarifier, just one of many tasks operators do to keep
treatment plants running smoothly. 

The formal regulatory action we took was adopting new OIT Group levels II-IV in chapter 173-230 WAC. These new OIT Group levels are for operators who can pass the next higher Group level exam, but do not yet meet the certification requirements to qualify for a full certification at that higher Group level. This means operators do not have to wait as long before taking the exam for the next certification level.  

Applicants who already hold a full certification 

If you meet the requirements for the OIT group level, you may apply for an OIT certification one level above your current full certification group level. If you pass the exam, you will then hold both your new OIT certification and your existing full certification.

You may keep your Group II – IV OIT certification for two exam cycles, up to 10 years, while gaining the necessary experience to upgrade to the next group level for full certification. 

While holding an OIT II-IV certification, you are only required to meet the professional growth requirements for their full certification and will pay only one renewal fee.

You will not be required to earn an OIT group level II-IV certification to advance to the next full certification level. It is merely an option for those operators lacking the operating experience necessary to qualify for the next level full certification. It allows you to take and pass the exam and gain the experience on the job. 

Applicants not yet certified 

If you do not already hold a certification, you may apply only for an OIT I. There is no time limit to how long an OTI I may remain at this group level.

Be a part of the solution

Given our state’s growing population, we need to treat more and more wastewater. This is a great field, with growth opportunities—often right in your own community.

Every treatment plant is unique - 

like the Cowiche Treatment Plant pictured here.

Not sure if you have the right experience? We find that people with experience as a welder, machinist, mechanic, operator at other similar facilities, laboratory technician, or engineer, often have the right type of experience for this important work. Check out our certification program website for more information. 

Evergreen Rural Water of Washington (ERWoW) is in the process of launching their Wastewater Utility Apprenticeship Program. The program offers hands-on and classroom training, which are both invaluable to wastewater treatment plant operators. We have had the opportunity to review their proposed program and training courses. Based on our review, operators who are successful in the program can qualify for the Operator-In-Training, Group I, Group II OIT, and eventually Group II level wastewater operator certification exams.

By: Jocelyn Jones, Senior Water Quality Rules Planner

These wastewater treatment plants earn an A+ in clean water

110 facilities recognized for their top performance 

Be honest, have you ever flushed a disposable wipe down the toilet? Did you pour the leftover grease from cooking down the kitchen drain? If you answered yes and are connected to the local sewer system, we suggest you thank a wastewater treatment plant operator!

LOTT - Lacey, Olympia, Tumwater, and Thurston County - 

Wastewater Treatment Plant is one of this year's award winners. 

Why? Because wastewater treatment plants – the place where anything that goes down the drain or toilet at homes and businesses ends up – deal with everything we put down the pipes that aren’t supposed to be there. These facilities keep Washington’s waters clean, by keeping pathogens, chemicals, trash, and sewage out of our water. 

Keeping a wastewater treatment plant in top-performing condition can be a tough job,  so every year we recognize these top-notch facilities and their operators. 

Thank you to Washington’s Wastewater Treatment Plant Operators

Our Deputy Directory, Polly Zehm, knows first-hand the challenges operators face. Early in her career, Polly was a wastewater treatment plant operator.

What this award means

We talked to employees at a few wastewater treatment plants to get a better sense of what this award means to them. Here’s what they had to say:

“The Outstanding Performance Award is important to all the personnel who work in and around the WWTP. It signifies the WWTP operators, Collection crews, staff, and management are collaborating as a team, paying attention to detail and supporting one another. It means that from the newest WWTP Operator to the Crewleader that ideas are valued for the successful operation of our plant,” said Dean Bugher, City of Kennewick’s Wastewater Services Crewleader. “Staying knowledgeable about our craft and up-to-date on compliance issues along with properly maintaining our equipment aids in our success. This in turn helps us to achieve a quality effluent which everyone can be proud of, knowing that we have done our part in keeping the aquatic environment around us clean, healthy and safe for all who use and enjoy.”

Matt Jenkins, the Public Works Manager for the City of La Center shared similar sentiments, saying “The positivity and pride that the operators get from achieving the award permeates through the entire organization. This award is one of the major goals we as a staff set for ourselves every single year. The staff strives to get the five year plaque on the horizon and the annual award is a fantastic affirmation of that effort.”

For some facilities, the award sparks some friendly competition. Mike Henry, the Operator in Responsible Charge of the Olympic Corrections Center said “We have won the award quite a few times and I think everyone is determined to win the award because they don’t want to be the first group of operators to not win it. The operators are proud of the awards. We have them hanging in the lab, except for the ones hanging in our administration building. That makes me think that our administration is as proud of our achievements as we are.”

This year’s winners

Here are a few highlights from this year’s awards. The full list of awardees is available online. 

Facilities with the most consecutive years of outstanding performance: 

• Manchester (Kitsap Co.) 24 years 
• Port Townsend WWTP 23 years 

The Sedro-Woolley team has won this award 17 times. 

Facilities with more than 15 years of outstanding performance, not necessarily consecutive: 

• Newport, 19 years 
• Salmon Creek (Discovery Clean Water Alliance), 19 years 
• Vancouver Marine Park and Westside, 18 years
• Sedro-Woolley, 17 years
• Lake Mayfield, 16 years
• Penn Cove Water & Sewer District, 16 years
• Seattle City Light – Diablo, 16 years 

This year we have a number of first time winners: 

• Seashore Villa Mobile Home Park 
• Enumclaw 
• Ione
• King County South Plant
• Sekiu
• Snoqualmie
• WA State Patrol Fire Training Academy 

Congratulations to these facilities and all 110 facilities for their hard working in protecting Washington’s waters. 

The Asotin Wastewater Treatment Plant is another one 

of this year's winners

Be a part of the solution

Ecology oversees the certification program for wastewater operators. Given our state’s growing population, we need to treat more and more wastewater. This is a great field, with growth opportunities. If you have experience as a welder, machinist, mechanic, operator at other similar facilities, laboratory technician, or engineer, you might have the right type of experience for this field! Check out our certification program website for more information. 

By: Colleen Keltz, Communications Manager for Water Quality