Current through Register Vol. 24-06, March 15, 2024
(1)
Which types of upland finfish
facilities need a wastewater discharge permit?
(a) A permit is required for:
(i) All facilities which produce more than
20,000 net pounds of finfish a year; or
(ii) Feeds more than 5,000 pounds of fish
food during any calendar month; or
(iii) Is designated as a significant
contributor of pollution by the department in accordance with
40 C.F.R.
122.24.
(b) Facilities which do not require a permit
under (a) of this subsection are conditionally exempt from the requirement to
obtain a wastewater discharge permit provided they comply with subsections (2)
through (6) of this section.
(2)
Time of compliance. Each
upland finfish rearing facility which requires a wastewater discharge permit in
accordance with subsection (1) of this section shall submit a completed
application form to the department at least one hundred eighty days in advance
of the date when permit coverage is deemed necessary.
(3)
Prevention, control, and
treatment. Each upland finfish facility shall provide treatment prior to
discharging to waters of the state regardless of receiving water quality. The
minimum acceptable technology-based treatment requirements for upland finfish
facilities required to obtain permits including general wastewater discharge
permits are:
(a) For facilities that use a
vacuum cleaning system, standpipe bottom-drain system or other method to remove
solids from the water, raceways or ponds, with treatment in a separate settling
basin or treatment system:
(i) All facilities
utilizing off-line settling shall incorporate into the pond or raceway design
methods to collect settleable solids. Methods such as screened settling zones
in the downstream end at raceways shall be used to collect settleable solids
prior to periodic removal to off-line settling basins.
(ii) The settling basin shall be designed to
minimize short-circuiting and to provide a minimum total suspended solids
average monthly percent removal of 85% and an average monthly settleable solids
percent removal of 90%.
(iii)
Turbulent flow shall be minimized within the cleaning system to avoid
homogenization or solids.
(iv)
Rearing of fish within the settling basin is not permitted.
(b) For facilities that provide
in-line settling for the entire effluent;
(i)
The settling basin shall be designed to minimize hydraulic
short-circuiting.
(ii) The settling
basin shall be designed to provide at least a twenty year sludge decomposition
and storage capacity unless provisions are made for periodic sludge removal
without interruption in treatment.
(iii) Rearing of fish within the settling
basin is prohibited.
(c)
For facilities with rearing ponds only, no other form of effluent treatment
shall be required, provided the rearing pond has a minimum hydraulic retention
time of two hours or more. Rearing vessels with less than two hours hydraulic
retention time may be approved by the department in writing without additional
treatment provided the applicant can demonstrate to the department, in advance,
the ability to continuously comply with effluent limits established in
subsection (4)(a) of this section.
(d) Each upland finfish facility that begins
construction after September 1, 1990, or expands production by fifty percent
over the production on the effective date of this rule shall either:
(i) Line all settling basins or otherwise
ensure that the static (i.e., without inflow) seepage rate through the settling
basin bottom and sides shall not be greater than a water surface drop of 0.10
inch per day; or
(ii) Demonstrate
to the department through hydrogeologic investigation and/or groundwater
monitoring that the operation of the facility will not have an adverse impact
upon groundwater quality.
(e) Notwithstanding the treatment
requirements of this subsection, more stringent or additional conditions may be
required by the department as necessary on a case-by-case basis to mitigate
adverse water quality impacts or meet water quality standards, groundwater
standards, sediment standards or other applicable requirements of federal or
state law.
(4)
Effluent standards. Wastewater from all upland finfish facilities
regardless of size shall meet the following effluent discharge standards.
(a) Facility discharges.
(i) The instantaneous maximum total suspended
solids concentration in the effluent at the point of discharge to the receiving
environment shall not exceed 15 milligrams per liter of effluent.
(ii) The average total suspended solids
concentration in the effluent at the point of discharge to the receiving
environment shall not exceed 5 milligrams per liter of effluent.
(iii) The average settleable solids
concentration in the effluent at the point of discharge to the receiving
environment shall not exceed 0.1 milliliter per liter of effluent.
(iv) Effluent limitations shall apply as net
values provided the criteria contained in
40 C.F.R.
122.45 (net gross allowance) are
met.
(b) Off-line
settling basin effluent.
(i) The instantaneous
maximum total suspended solids concentration shall not exceed 100 milligrams
per liter of effluent.
(ii) The
instantaneous maximum settleable solids concentration in off-line settling
basin effluent shall not exceed 1.0 milliliter per liter of effluent.
(c) Discharges during rearing pond
drawdown for fish release shall meet the following discharge standards. Pond
drawdown for purposes other than fish release shall meet the discharger
standards in (a) of this subsection.
(i) The
instantaneous maximum total suspended solids concentration in the rearing pond
effluent shall not exceed 100 milligrams per liter.
(ii) The instantaneous maximum settleable
solids concentration in the rearing pond effluent shall not exceed 1.0
milliliter per liter.
(d) Test procedures. All sampling and
analytical methods used to determine compliance with standards specified in
this subsection shall, unless otherwise approved by the department, conform to
the Guidelines Establishing Test Procedures for the Analysis of
Pollutants contained in 40 C.F.R. Part 136.
(e) Notwithstanding the numerical discharge
standards within this subsection, each upland finfish facility shall be
operated in the most efficient manner possible. Additional effluent limits
and/or more stringent effluent limits may be required as necessary on a
case-by-case basis to meet water quality standards, groundwater quality
standards, sediment quality standards, or other applicable requirements of
federal or state law.
(5)
General requirements. The
following practices shall be applicable to all upland finfish facilities.
(a) Sand, silt, mud, solids, sludges, filter
backwash, debris, or other pollutants deposited or removed in the course of
treatment or control of water supply and wastewaters shall be disposed of in a
manner so as to prevent such materials from entering waters of the
state.
(b) Discharging untreated
cleaning wastes (e.g., obtained from a vacuum or standpipe bottom drain system)
to waters of the state is prohibited.
(c) Sweeping or intentionally discharging
accumulated solids from raceways or ponds to waters of the state without prior
treatment is prohibited.
(d)
Practices such as removing dam boards in raceways or ponds, that allow
accumulated solids to discharge to waters of the state are
prohibited.
(e) The discharge of
any drugs or chemicals in toxic amounts or in violation of water quality
standards to waters of the state is prohibited.
(f) Disease control chemical use practices.
The following requirements only apply to those drugs and chemicals included in
feed or administered by a bath or dip treatment which results or may result in
those materials being discharged to waters of the state. These requirements do
not apply to drugs and chemicals administered by injections or by dip
treatments which results in no discharge to waters of the state.
(i) Disease control chemicals and drugs
approved for hatchery use by the United States Food and Drug Administration
(USFDA) or the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) may be
used.
(ii) USFDA approved
Investigational New Animal Drugs (INADs) may also be used at a facility,
provided the conditions detailed in a facility's INAD permit application are
met.
(iii) All disease control drug
and chemical use must be done in conformance with product label instructions,
approved INAD protocols, or be administered by or under the supervision of a
licensed veterinarian.
(iv) Disease
control drugs and chemicals which are not used in accordance with product label
instructions, or under USFDA approved INAD protocols must:
(A) Be administered by or under the
supervision of a licensed veterinarian; and
(B) Be approved in advance by the
department.
(v) The
department may require disease control drug and chemical use reports from each
facility.
(g) Fish
mortalities, kill spawning, processing wastes, and any leachate from these
materials shall be disposed of in a manner so as to prevent such materials from
entering the waters of the state.
(h) Right of entry.
(i) Authorized representatives of the
department, upon presentation of identification shall be allowed to:
(A) Enter in or upon the facility at all
reasonable times;
(B) Have access
to and copy at all reasonable times any records relative to information that
must be kept or provided the department under the terms of, as applicable: The
conditional exemption or wastewater discharge permit;
(C) Inspect, investigate, and photograph at
all reasonable times any production, collection, treatment, pollution
management, monitoring, or discharge equipment or facilities, or any conditions
relating to pollution or possible pollution of any waters of the
state;
(D) Sample and make tests at
all reasonable times; and
(E) The
term "reasonable times" shall include normal business hours, hours during which
production, prevention, control, or treatment occurs or times when the
department reasonably suspects a violation of this chapter is or may be
occurring.
(6)
Receiving water quality
studies. Receiving water quality studies shall be required as follows
for each upland finfish facility which begins construction after September 1,
1990, or expands production by fifty percent over the production on the
effective date of this rule. Existing facilities may be required to do
receiving water studies on a case-by-case basis. Dilution shall be evaluated by
the department using total facility effluent at maximum production at the
lowest seven-day average receiving stream flow with a 10-year recurrence
interval (7Q10).
(a) For facilities with a
discharge of one part upland finfish facility effluent to ten parts or more of
receiving water, receiving water studies are not required unless significant
data indicates water quality standards would be violated.
(b) For facilities with an effluent dilution
of between one part upland finfish facility effluent to three parts receiving
water and one part effluent to ten parts receiving water, receiving water
studies may be required by the department. The department shall provide the
upland finfish operator or permit applicant with written documentation on the
need for receiving water studies upon request. Factors to be considered by the
department in determining the need for and objectives of special receiving
water studies may include, but are limited to, the following:
(i) The water quality classification of the
receiving water of the state;
(ii)
The potential water quality impacts of surrounding land use practices and/or
existing and proposed discharges including the proposed upland finfish hatching
and rearing facility;
(iii) The
likelihood that the proposed discharge will have an effect on existing water
quality and/or present or future beneficial uses;
(iv) The proximity of the discharge to a
quiescent water body such as a lake or a reservoir;
(v) On-site inspection;
(vi) The potential of the discharge to have
an adverse impact on receiving water quality such that water quality standards
would be violated; and
(vii)
Possible beneficial impacts of upland finfish discharges on existing water
quality such as flow augmentation.
(c) For facilities with an effluent dilution
of one part upland finfish facility effluent to three parts or less of
receiving waters, receiving water quality studies will generally be required
for new facilities and may be required on a case-by-case basis for existing
facilities.
(d) Receiving water
quality studies content and scope shall include, as required by the department
an analysis of the proposed facilities discharge and any impacts upon the
receiving water of the state, including, but not limited to, the following:
(i) Identification of existing and potential
beneficial uses of the receiving water of the state and an evaluation of the
impact on those beneficial uses of the proposed discharge;
(ii) Hydraulic impacts;
(iii) The impacts of both nitrogen and
phosphorous compounds and the potential for eutrophication of the receiving
waters;
(iv) The use of chemicals
and medications within the facility, their toxicity, and the impacts on the
receiving waters;
(v) The effect of
the facilities on receiving water temperature and dissolved oxygen
concentrations; and
(vi) The
potential for impacting any specified identified water use.
(vii) Possible beneficial impact of upland
finfish discharges on existing water quality such as flow
augmentation.
Statutory Authority:
RCW
90.48.220. 95-22-079 (Order 93-26), §
173-221A-100, filed 10/31/95, effective 12/1/95. Statutory Authority:
Chapter
90.48 RCW. 90-14-078
(Order 90-11), § 173-221A-100, filed 7/3/90, effective
8/3/90.