Improve effectiveness, implementation, and enforcement of National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits to address direct threats to Southern Resident orcas and their prey.

Action 1

Update water quality standards for aquatic life that focus on pollutants most harmful to Southern Residents and their food.

Action 2

Direct the Washington Department of Ecology to consider developing stronger pre-treatment standards for city and industrial wastewater discharges.

Action 3

Fund the Department of Ecology to increase inspections, assistance programs, and enforcement to achieve water quality standards. Prioritize enforcement where limits are exceeded for pollutants known to be harmful to Southern Resident orcas.

The Department of Ecology should report in 2019 on how to accelerate effectiveness, implementation, and enforcement of National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits. Using the existing regulatory framework and authority under the Clean Water Act and Water Pollution Control Act, the department should update water quality standards for aquatic life that focus on the pollutants most harmful to Southern Residents and their food. To fill gaps, this will focus primarily on polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), contaminants of emerging concern, and other chemicals based on greatest benefit to Southern Residents and their food. In addition, Ecology should consider developing stronger pre-treatment standards for municipal and industrial wastewater dischargers under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System.

Improved permit requirements also would result in increased innovation and source control and drive improved technology requirements. For municipal wastewater facilities, this would combine better industrial pretreatment and use of better treatment technologies with upgrades to wastewater treatment facilities. New standards could be implemented through renewals of the five-year National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit cycle and could allow permittees the necessary time to fully implement solutions (ideally within one permit cycle).

To ensure new and existing permit conditions and water quality standards are met, Ecology should seek funding in the 2019 legislative session for more robust inspections, assistance programs, and enforcement. The funding should support field staff and data analysis and include a clear directive to increase enforcement against entities that exceed limits for pollutants known to cause harm to the Southern Resident orcas and their food.

• In 2024, the Department of Ecology added requirements to municipal stormwater permits to address 6PPD (a chemical that prevents tires from degrading) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in building materials, and stormwater retrofits for smaller stormwater permittees.
• The department issued a wastewater nutrient general permit that requires wastewater treatment plants to optimize operations and plan for future nutrient reductions. Some of these nutrient reductions may also remove other contaminants from wastewater discharges.
• In August 2024, Washington’s waters gained new protections, thanks to an update of the state water quality rules. The Department of Ecology updated the Toxics in Aquatic Life criteria and set limits for forty-two chemicals to protect aquatic life from both immediate effects, such as death, and long-term effects, such as changes in growth and reproduction. Standards for well-known toxics already in Washington’s rules such as arsenic, copper, nickel, silver, and zinc, were updated to better protect aquatic life. New additions to Washington’s aquatic life criteria include perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), aluminum, and 6PPD-quinone.

More details may be found in the progress reports in the resources library.