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In 2004, the State Legislature passed Engrossed Senate Substitute Bill 6415, which required the Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology) to report on its review of methods to improve the monitoring requirements in construction and industrial stormwater general permits per Revised Code of Washington 90.48.555. Consequently, Ecology formed a Technical Advisory Committee to review and evaluate data obtained through stormwater general permits. The Technical Advisory Committee consisted of representatives of the Association of Washington Business, Boeing Company, Ecology Water Quality Program, Mentor Law Group, People for Puget Sound, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, Puget Sound Keeper Alliance, Washington Department of Transportation, Weyerhaeuser, and a consultant to Ecology (EnviroVision Corporation). Ecology’s consultant reviewed the monitoring requirements in the current industrial stormwater general permit (industrial permit). The report at the link below presents that evaluation.
The report focuses on using an adaptive management approach for setting benchmarks and action levels and improving monitoring to assess the effectiveness of the stormwater best management practices used by permit holders. The report also describes how well the current and alternate monitoring requirements support the determination of permittee compliance or noncompliance with state water quality standards. The Ecology Water Quality Program incorporated many of the report recommendations in the draft industrial permit that we released for public comment on February 21, 2007. Ecology anticipates re-issuing the final industrial permit on August 15, 2007. Ecology re-issued the construction stormwater general permit (construction permit) on December 16, 2005. However, the holders of construction permits were not required to begin submitting monitoring data until November 15, 2006. Consequently, monitoring data were not available until very recently. Therefore, while developing the construction permit, the Water Quality Program conducted an internal review of monitoring needs and set up a requirement for permittees to perform weekly monitoring during the wet season. The Fact Sheet for the permit explains the basis for the required monitoring and is available at:
When Ecology has received enough monitoring data from the construction permit holders, we will review the data and recommend additional changes to the monitoring required of them. In the meantime, the report at the link below presents a preliminary review of the construction permit monitoring requirements.
If you need more information, you may contact James M. Maroncelli at 360-407-6588, or at JamM461@ecy.wa.gov.
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