Surface Water Quality Standards Rule Revisions Information | Washington State Department of Ecology

Washington State Department of Ecology

Ecology home > Water Quality > Ground & Surface Water Quality Standards > Surface Water Quality Standards > Water Quality Standards Rule Revisions

Surface Water Quality Standards Rule Revisions

Current Rule Activities

Ecology initiated a rule revision on October 25, 2012 to update the Water Quality Standards for Surface Waters of the State of Washington - Chapter 173-201A WAC.

The proposed changes will provide predictable regulatory tools to help entities comply with existing and new source control requirements or discharge limits. The changes will allow for compliance with requirements while they effectively work toward meeting permit limits and control sources of pollutants.

Rule Activity Timeline

Ongoing	Ecology is receiving letters that provide comments on the proposal to revise the surface water quality standards. These letters are part of the pre-proposal rulemaking phase (CR-101), and are not part of any formal comment period. Feedback on implementation rule-making
January 11, 2012	Public Workshop January 11, 2012 1:30 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. Meeting Location: Liberty Lake Sewer and Water District Administration Building 22510 E. Mission Ave. Liberty Lake, WA 99019 The material presented at this meeting will cover the same topics as a previous meeting held in Lacey on December 13, 2011. Ecology staff will summarize material previously presented by the EPA and Oregon DEQ. Due to interest, Ecology has arranged for a listen-only telephone line for this public workshop. Ecology welcomes listeners’ questions or comments after the workshop. Staff will be available to speak with callers on January 12, 2012. There will be additional public involvement opportunities. Ecology is in the early stages of its public process on this topic. To obtain the conference call number, please RSVP at swqs@ecy.wa.gov. Workshop materials: Agenda Focus on Reducing Toxics: Reducing Toxics in Fish, Sediments, and Water Ecology Presentation: Surface Water Quality Standards and other Ecology Activities – the Context for this Meeting Ecology Presentation: SWQS Implementation Tools and Planned Changes to Address Short and Long-term Pollution Control Activities
December 13, 2011	Public Workshop December 13, 2011 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Lacey Community Center This public workshop is to discuss potential changes to implementation tools. Below are the presentations and handouts from the workshop. Draft Workshop Agenda Focus on Reducing Toxics: Reducing Toxics in Fish, Sediments, and Water Ecology Presentation: Surface Water Quality Standards and other Ecology Activities – the Context for this Meeting Ecology Presentation: SWQS Implementation Tools and Planned Changes to Address Short and Long-term Pollution Control Activities Oregon DEQ Presentation: Developing Implementation Tools Related to Recently Approved Human Health WQS for Toxic Pollutants in Oregon Oregon's Water Quality Standards for Toxic Pollutants Effective human health criteria adopted by the EQC on June 16, 2011 and approved by EPA on Oct. 17, 2011
October 25, 2011	A rule revision was initiated to update Water Quality Standards for Surface Waters of the State of Washington - Chapter 173-201A WAC. The purpose of these amendments is to provide flexible and predictable regulatory tools that help entities comply with new source control requirements or discharge limits. The changes will allow entities to maintain compliance with requirements while they effectively work toward meeting permit limits and controlling sources of pollutants. Rule-making pre-proposal - CR-101 form Rule-making notice

Archival Rule Documents

Unless otherwise specified, the following documents are available in Adobe Acrobat (.PDF file) format. To view and/or print PDF files, you first will need to download and install Adobe Acrobat Reader from this link.