New permit for wineries helps protect water quality

We have worked together with the Washington's wineries to develop the first statewide water quality permit for wineries, called the Winery General Permit. This permit establishes practices for managing winery wastewater. The permit is scheduled to take effect July 1, 2019.

Helping Washington wineries be more sustainable

Washington is the second-largest wine-producing state in the nation. Because the wine production in Washington has increased greatly over the past decade, we decided to develop a general permit that establishes good waste management practices.

This permit will help protect our waters from potential pollution. A general permit allows businesses that have a similar function to have a unified approach. Instead of each winery applying for water quality permits separately, they can apply for coverage under the one statewide general permit.

General permits simplify the permitting process – which saves both the facility and the state time and resources.

Working with the wine industry to create a solid permit

Since 2014, we have worked closely with Washington’s wineries and industry experts to get to know Washington’s diverse wine industry. We learned about wineries’ current waste management systems and listened to concerns about complying with a new permit.

We included flexibility, compliance options, benchmarks, and scaled requirements for small producers and existing facilities. For more about our collaboration with the wine industry and stakeholders see the permit development history on our website.

Why is winery wastewater a concern for water quality?

The wastewater made from winemaking facilities has the potential to contaminate ground water, which is where many Washingtonians get their drinking water.

Contamination can occur if a winery’s septic tank and drainfield system fails, if their wastewater lagoon leaks, or if they use too much untreated wastewater to irrigate their crops. Winery wastewater can have high amounts of organic matter and solids, and extreme pH ranges.

Wastewater discharges like those from winemaking facilities can:

• Pollute groundwater aquifers that supply drinking water and the water used to make wine.
• Kill aquatic organisms.
• Overwhelm wastewater treatment plants causing untreated sewage to be discharged to Puget Sound and rivers.

Check out our website for more info: www.ecology.wa.gov/winerypermit

Who needs coverage under the new permit?

Wineries may need coverage under the permit if they discharge more than 53,505 gallons of wastewater in a typical calendar year. Specifically, these wineries will need coverage if they discharge winery process wastewater:

• To a wastewater treatment plant.
• As irrigation to managed vegetation.
• To a lagoon or other liquid storage structure.
• As road dust abatement.
• To a subsurface infiltration system.
• To an infiltration basin.

What’s next?

Before the permit is effective (July 1, 2019), we will hold workshops to inform winery representatives how to:

• Apply for permit coverage.
• Inspect their facilities.
• Document their progress.
• Implement best management practices.
• Report using Ecology’s web portal.

Join our winery email listserv to receive updates, notices, and other information. 

By: Stacy Galleher, Water Quality communications specialist

Give your input on Washington’s first statewide water quality permit for wineries

The Winery General Permit will ensure Washington wineries
protect water quality as they cultivate sustainable practices.

We are proposing a new statewide water quality permit for wineries, called the Winery General Permit. This permit will establish practices for managing winery wastewater. The comment period opens today and we will accept comments until Feb. 14, 2018.

We are also holding four public hearings: two online webinars, one in-person meeting in Eastern Washington, and one in-person meeting in Western Washington. See below for more details.

Helping Washington wineries be more sustainable

Washington is the second-largest wine-producing state in the nation. Because the wine production in Washington has increased greatly over the past decade, we decided to develop a general permit that establishes good waste management practices.

Washington state is the second-largest
producer of wine in the United States. 

This permit will help protect our waters from potential pollution. A general permit allows businesses that have a similar function to have a unified approach. Instead of each winery applying for water quality permits separately, they can apply for coverage under the one statewide general permit.

General permits simplify the permitting process – which saves both the facility and the state time and resources.

Working with the wine industry to create a solid permit

We have been working with the wine industry since 2014. We formed an advisory group to advise us. We heard from representatives of wineries that the vast majority of Washington wineries have very low annual production volumes and are already heavily regulated.

In the proposed draft we included flexibility, compliance options, benchmarks, and scaled requirements for small producers and existing facilities. The draft permit focuses on best management practices and data collection.

Wineries protect water quality and the environment
when they properly manage their wastewater.

Why is winery wastewater a concern for water quality?

The wastewater made from winemaking facilities has the potential to contaminate groundwater, which is where many Washingtonians get their drinking water.

Contamination can occur if a winery’s septic tank and drainfield system fails, if their wastewater lagoon leaks, or if they use too much untreated wastewater to irrigate their crops. Winery wastewater can have high amounts of organic matter and solids, and extreme pH ranges.

Wastewater discharges like those from winemaking facilities can:

• Pollute groundwater aquifers that supply drinking water and the water used to make wine.
• Kill aquatic organisms.
• Overwhelm wastewater treatment plants causing untreated sewage to be discharged to Puget Sound and rivers.

How can you comment?

You can find the documents on our website. We are accepting comments from Nov. 1, 2017 to Feb. 14, 2018 on the:

• Draft Winery General Permit
• Revised Fact Sheet
• Notice of Intent (application)
• Economic Impact Analysis

Join us online at one of our webinars:

• Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2018 at 10:30 a.m.
  Register to join the morning webinar
• Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2018 at 6:00 p.m
  Register to join the evening webinar

Join us for in-person hearings:

Prosser	Bellevue
Tuesday, Jan. 30 at 10:30 a.m. Benton County P.U.D. - Prosser 250 Gap Road Prosser, WA 99336	Friday, Feb. 2 at 1:30 p.m. South Bellevue Community Center 14509 SE Newport Way Bellevue, WA 98006

Submit written comments

We will accept written comments on the draft permit, fact sheet, and supporting documentation until 11:59 p.m. on Feb. 14, 2018. We prefer comments be submitted through our online comment form. Comments should reference specific permit text when possible.

Submit comments

• Online via the e-Comment form
• By mail:
  Stacey Callaway
  Washington State Department of Ecology
  P.O. Box 47696
  Olympia, WA 98504-7696

What’s next?

We will respond to comments and include them as an appendix in the fact sheet of the permit. If comments cause a large change in the permit, we may hold another public comment period. If there are no major changes, we expect to issue the permit in the summer of 2018.

Check out our website for more info: www.ecology.wa.gov/winerypermit

By: Stacy Galleher, Water Quality communications specialist
and Stacey Callaway, Water Quality permit writer

Working with wineries to protect Washington’s waters

By Sandy Howard, Water Quality Program communications manager

Many wineries are green and are already
minimizing environmental harm.

Washington now follows California as the second-largest wine producing state in the nation.  Undeniably, the Washington wine industry is a valuable contributor to our economy, bringing in money and jobs to our state.

According to the Washington State Wine Commission, the number of wineries in Washington has more than doubled from 360 in 2005 to more than 850 today. The wine industry provides an estimated $8.6 billion in total economic impact to our state. It also provides more than 27,000 jobs and $1.06 billion in wine-related tourism.

Growth of wineries = growth in winery wastewater

However, more wineries in Washington means there is also more winery wastewater. If wastewater is not managed, it can cause problems for the environment and local sewer treatment plants.

Other top wine producing states such as California and Oregon have developed water quality permits for wineries. Washington is now considering following suit. We are in the preliminary stages of developing a water quality permit for wineries in our state.

The Department of Ecology is partnering with the wine industry to develop a water quality permit that meets the needs of wineries and protects water quality. We believe the winery industry can succeed both economically and environmentally.

Many wineries are green

In general, the wine industry has adopted practices that promote sustainability and minimize environmental harm.  Many wineries are already successfully managing their wastewater.

Eastern and central Washington wineries mostly affected

Currently, 13 of Washington's larger wineries have individual water quality permits. We expect the new permit would mostly affect wineries in eastern and central Washington.

This permit will protect water quality by defining best practices for the management of winery wastewater. It will also provide regulatory certainty and consistency for Washington’s wine industry.

Why winery wastewater is a concern

Winery wastewater is acidic and can include cleaning agents, grape juice, and organic sediment (lees) that usually comes from washing tanks, barrels, crush pads, and floors at the winery. 

When winery wastewater breaks down naturally, microorganisms consume a large amount of oxygen. If this wastewater gets into our rivers or streams it can cause oxygen levels to drop and put aquatic life at risk.

Winery wastewater also has the potential to contaminate our groundwater, which is where many of us get our drinking water. Groundwater contamination can occur if a winery’s septic system and drainfield fails, their wastewater lagoon is unlined or leaking, or if they use too much untreated wastewater to irrigate their crops. 

Some wineries discharge their wastewater into local sewage treatment plants, which have the ability to treat winery wastewater. However, a large volume of high-strength wastewater can throw off the chemistry of sewer plants and can affect their ability to properly treat the wastewater. This could lead to the discharge of high levels of pollutants, and violations of the wastewater treatment plant’s water quality permit.

Water quality permit is in early stages

Ecology is in the early stages of developing a Winery Waste Discharge General Permit. We are working with wineries, local wine associations, consultants and treatment plants on the development of the new permit.

We have begun meeting with an external technical advisory group comprised of stakeholders with winery experience and industry knowledge to assist with this process.

How to get involved or get information

If you have any questions, please contact Chelsea Desforges at chelsea.desforges@ecy.wa.gov or 360-407-6435.

To receive updates, notices, and other information about this effort, we invite you to join our winery email listserv or visit our website.