Washington Administrative Code
Title 220 - Fish and Wildlife, Department of
ENVIRONMENTAL STANDARDS AND CONSERVATION
Chapter 220-660 - Hydraulic code rules
Section 220-660-305 - Mineral prospecting involving motorized or gravity siphon equipment
Universal Citation: WA Admin Code 220-660-305
Current through Register Vol. 24-18, September 15, 2024
(1) Description: Mineral prospecting involving motorized or gravity siphon equipment are projects that excavate, process, or classify aggregate using small motorized equipment or pumps. Such methods include, but are not limited to, suction dredges, dryland dredges, power sluice/suction dredge combinations, motorized high-bankers or power sluices, trommels, and spiral wheels. These projects also include methods using gravity siphons that supply water for excavating, processing, or classifying aggregate by means of vacuum created by water flowing through a tube or hose, such as gravity dredges or nonmotorized high-bankers. Bulb snifters are not considered motorized or gravity siphon equipment. The rules in this section apply to using motorized or gravity siphon equipment. See WAC 220-660-300 for mineral prospecting with other types of equipment.
(2) Fish life concerns: Mineral prospecting involving motorized or gravity siphon equipment can harm fish life and habitat that supports fish life.
(a)
Direct impacts can include:
(i) Mortality from
the physical effects of disturbing eggs or fry incubating within the
bed;
(ii) Mortality from passing
vulnerable fish through equipment; and
(iii) Lower environmental productivity
resulting from habitat modifications such as altered stream beds or lowered
water quality.
(b)
Indirect impacts can include changes in food resources and human
disturbances.
(c) The department
minimizes impacts by restricting the type of mining equipment allowed, limiting
excavation zones within streams, and setting allowable timing
windows.
(d) Aquatic invasive
species can be transported on or in motorized and gravity siphon equipment and
spread between water bodies. This can harm all life stages of fish life and
permanently harm, destroy, or alter ecosystems.
(3) General requirements:
(a) Before conducting any mineral prospecting
involving motorized or gravity siphon equipment, a person must obtain the
approval of the department through the issuance of a standard, single-site
written HPA or standard, multisite written HPA as described in WAC
220-660-050.
The department must deny an HPA when, in the judgment of the department, the
project will result in direct or indirect harm to fish life, unless enough
mitigation can be assured by provisioning the HPA or modifying the proposal.
The department may apply saltwater provisions to written HPAs for tidally
influenced areas upstream of river mouths and the mainstem Columbia River
downstream of Bonneville Dam.
(b)
The department will determine the authorized work time for mineral prospecting
activities involving motorized or gravity siphon equipment that discharge water
to surface or ground water per WAC
220-660-110.
(c) Nothing in this chapter relieves a person
of the duty to obtain landowner permission and any other required permits
before conducting any mineral prospecting activity.
(4) Aquatic invasive species prevention:
(a) All motorized or
gravity siphon equipment that has been used in waters outside of Washington
state must be inspected for the presence of aquatic invasive species by an
authorized department employee or agent before being used in waters of the
state.
(b) All motorized or gravity
siphon equipment used in any water of the state must be decontaminated
according to department specification prior to use in a different water of the
state.
(5) Mineral prospecting involving motorized or gravity siphon equipment:
(a) A person may operate motorized or gravity
siphon equipment in waters of the state only with the mineral prospecting
equipment limitations identified in this section and during the times
identified in the written HPA.
(b)
When mining using motorized or gravity siphon equipment, a person may use only
handheld mineral prospecting tools and the following mineral prospecting
equipment:
(i) Pans;
(ii) Spiral wheels;
(iii) Concentrators and high-bankers with
riffle areas totaling ten square feet or less, including ganged
equipment;
(iv) Gravity
siphons;
(v) Motorized or
nonmotorized suction dredges that have suction intake nozzles with inside
diameters that should be five inches or less, but must be no greater than five
and one-quarter inches to account for manufacturing tolerances and possible
deformation of the nozzle. The inside diameter of the dredge hose attached to
the nozzle may be no greater than one inch larger than the nozzle size. See
Figure 1;
Figure 1: Suction dredge intake nozzle
(vi) Power
sluice/suction dredge combinations, when configured and operated as suction
dredges, that have suction intake nozzles with inside diameters that should be
five inches or less, but must be no greater than five and one-quarter inches to
account for manufacturing tolerances and possible deformation of the nozzle.
The inside diameter of the dredge hose attached to the suction intake nozzle
may be no greater than one inch larger than the nozzle size. See Figure 1;
(vii) Power sluice/suction dredge
combinations, when configured and used as high-bankers or power sluices, that
have riffle areas totaling ten square feet or less, including ganged equipment
and pump hoses with inside diameters of four inches or less;
(viii) High-bankers and power sluices that
have riffle areas totaling ten square feet or less, including ganged equipment,
and pump intake hoses with inside diameters of four inches or less.
(c) The Washington
department of ecology determines where motorized or gravity siphon equipment
listed in the previous provision may be used. Contact the Washington department
of ecology water quality program for information about the locations where the
use of motorized or gravity siphon equipment is allowed.
(d) The suction intake nozzle and hose of
suction dredges and power sluice/suction dredge combinations configured and
operated as suction dredges must not exceed the diameters allowed in this
subsection (5).
(e) When operating
a dryland dredge:
(i) A person may not
excavate, collect, or remove aggregate from the toe of the slope. A person also
may not excavate, collect, or remove aggregate from an unstable slope or any
slope that delivers, or might deliver, sediment to the wetted perimeter or
frequent scour zone. See Figures 2 and 3.
Figure 2: Cross section of a typical body of water showing unstable slopes, stable areas, and permitted or prohibited excavation sites when operating a dryland dredge.
Dashed lines indicate areas where excavation is not permitted.
Figure 3: Permitted and prohibited excavation sites in a typical body of water under rules for dryland dredging. Dashed lines indicate areas where excavation is not permitted.
(ii) A person must process aggregate
collected from upland areas landward of the frequent scour zone only at an
upland location landward of the frequent scour zone. A person may not allow
tailings or wastewater to enter the wetted perimeter or frequent scour zone.
(f) A person may not use
vehicle-mounted winches. A person may use one motorized winch and one
nonmotorized hand-operated winch to move boulders and large woody material that
is not embedded, and additional cables, chains, or ropes to stabilize
them.
(g) Equipment separation:
(i) A person may use mini high-bankers with
riffle areas totaling three square feet or less, including ganged equipment, as
close to other mineral prospecting equipment as desired.
(ii) When operating motorized or gravity
siphon equipment other than that identified in (g)(i) of this subsection, a
person's equipment must be at least two hundred feet from all others also
operating any type of motorized or gravity siphon equipment. This separation is
measured as a radius from the center of the equipment the person is operating.
A person may locate this equipment closer than two hundred feet if only one
piece of equipment is operating within that two hundred foot radius.
(h) Any device a person uses for
removing water from fish-bearing waters must be equipped with a fish guard to
prevent fish from entering the intake. A person must screen the intake with
material that has openings no larger than five sixty-fourths inch for square
openings, measured side to side, or three thirty-seconds inch diameter for
round openings, and the screen must have at least one square inch of functional
screen area for every gallon per minute (gpm) of water drawn through it. For
example, a one hundred gpmrated pump would require a screen with a surface area
of at least one hundred square inches.
(i) All equipment fueling and servicing must
be done so that petroleum products do not enter the wetted perimeter or
frequent scour zone. If a petroleum sheen or spill is observed, a person must
immediately stop work, remove the equipment from the body of water, and contact
the Washington military department emergency management division. A person may
not return the equipment to the water until the problem is corrected. A person
must store fuel and lubricants outside the frequent scour zone, and in the
shade when possible.
(j) A person
may work within the wetted perimeter or frequent scour zone only from one-half
hour before official sunrise to one-half hour after official sunset. If a
person's mineral prospecting equipment exceeds one-half the width of the wetted
perimeter of the stream, a person must remove the equipment from the wetted
perimeter or move it so that at least fifty percent of the wetted perimeter is
free of equipment from one-half hour after official sunset to one-half hour
before official sunrise.
(k) A
person may not excavate, collect, remove, or process aggregate within four
hundred feet of any fishway, dam, or hatchery water intake.
(l) A person must not disturb existing fish
habitat improvement structures or stream channel improvements.
(m) A person may not undermine, move, or
disturb large woody material embedded in the slopes or located wholly or
partially within the wetted perimeter. A person may move large woody material
and boulders located entirely within the frequent scour zone, but a person must
keep them within the frequent scour zone. A person may not cut large woody
material.
(n) A person may not
undermine, cut, or disturb live, rooted woody vegetation of any kind.
(o) A person may work in only one excavation
site at a time. However, you may use a second excavation site as a settling
pond. Multiple individuals may work within a single excavation site.
(p) A person must fill all excavation sites
and level all tailing piles before moving to another excavation site or
abandoning an excavation site.
(q)
A person may not excavate, collect, or remove aggregate from the toe of the
slope. A person also may not excavate, collect, or remove aggregate from an
unstable slope or any slope that delivers, or has the potential to deliver,
sediment to the wetted perimeter or frequent scour zone.
(r) A person may partially divert a body of
water into mineral prospecting equipment using natural or artificial materials
provided the diversion is constructed by hand. However, at no time may the
diversion structure be greater than fifty percent of the width of the wetted
perimeter, including the width of the equipment. A person may not divert the
body of water outside of the wetted perimeter. Before abandoning the site, a
person must remove artificial materials used in the construction of a diversion
structure and restore the site to its approximate original condition.
(s) A person may process aggregate collected
from the frequent scour zone:
(i) At any
location if a person uses pans; spiral wheels; mini high-bankers; or other
concentrators with riffle areas totaling three square feet or less, including
ganged equipment.
(ii) Only in the
frequent scour zone or upland areas landward of the frequent scour zone if a
person uses power sluice/suction dredge combinations, high-bankers, or power
sluices with riffle areas totaling ten square feet or less, including ganged
equipment; or sluices or rocker boxes that have riffle areas totaling more than
three but less than ten square feet, including ganged equipment. A person may
not discharge tailings to the wetted perimeter when using this equipment.
However, you may discharge wastewater to the wetted perimeter if its entry
point into the wetted perimeter is at least two hundred feet from any other
wastewater discharge entry point.
(t) A person may process aggregate collected
from the upland areas landward of the frequent scour zone:
(i) At any location if a person uses pans;
spiral wheels; concentrators; or mini high-bankers with riffle areas totaling
three square feet or less, including ganged equipment. A person must classify
the aggregate at the collection or excavation site prior to processing with
this equipment within the wetted perimeter or frequent scour zone;
(ii) Only at an upland location landward of
the frequent scour zone if a person uses power sluice/suction dredge
combinations, high-bankers, or power sluices. A person may not discharge
tailings or wastewater into the wetted perimeter or frequent scour
zone.
(u) A person may
use pressurized water only for redistributing dredge tailings within the wetted
perimeter, for crevicing using a dryland dredge, or for introducing water under
low pressure to an excavation site from the nozzle of a dryland dredge. No
other use of pressurized water is permitted.
(v) A person may conduct crevicing in the
wetted perimeter, in the frequent scour zone, or landward of the frequent scour
zone. The hose connecting fittings of pressurized water tools used for
crevicing may not have an inside diameter larger than 3/4-inch. If a person
crevices landward of the frequent scour zone, a person may not discharge
sediment or wastewater to the wetted perimeter or the frequent scour
zone.
(w) A person must avoid areas
containing live freshwater mussels. If a person encounters live mussels during
excavation, a person must relocate the operation.
(x) A person may not disturb redds. If a
person observes or encounters redds or actively spawning fish when collecting
or processing aggregate, a person must relocate the operation.
(y) If at any time, as a result of project
activities, a person observes a fish kill or fish life in distress, a person
must immediately stop operations and notify the department and the Washington
military department emergency management division of the problem. A person may
not resume work until the department gives approval. The department will
require additional measures to mitigate the prospecting impacts.
(6) Mineral prospecting involving motorized or gravity siphon equipment on ocean beaches: A person may operate motorized or gravity siphon equipment year-round on ocean beaches of the state. A person must follow the rules listed below:
(a) A person may operate only between the
line of ordinary high tide and the line of extreme low tide on beaches within
the seashore conservation area set under
RCW
79A.05.605 and managed by Washington state
parks and recreation commission.
(b) When operating motorized or gravity
siphon equipment, a person may use only hand-held mineral prospecting tools and
the equipment authorized in subsection (5)(b) of this section.
(c) Motorized types of mineral prospecting
equipment listed in the previous provision may be used ONLY in waters in Grays
Harbor, and Pacific counties that are NOT designated under the Endangered
Species Act as critical habitat for salmon, steelhead, or bull trout. A map
identifying waters where motorized methods are allowed is available from
Washington department of ecology.
(d) A person may not use vehicle-mounted
winches. A person may use one nonmotorized hand-operated winch to move boulders
and large woody material that is not embedded, and additional cables, chains,
or ropes to stabilize them.
(e) Any
device a person uses for removing water from fish-bearing waters must be
equipped with a fish guard to prevent fish from entering the intake. A person
must screen the intake with material that has openings no larger than five
sixty-fourths inch for square openings, measured side to side, or three
thirty-seconds inch diameter for round openings, and the screen must have at
least one square inch of functional screen area for every gallon per minute
(gpm) of water drawn through it. For example, a one hundred gpmrated pump would
require a screen with a surface area of at least one hundred square
inches.
(f) All equipment fueling
and servicing must be done so that petroleum products do not enter the wetted
perimeter. If a petroleum sheen or spill is observed, a person must immediately
stop work, remove the equipment from the body of water and beach, and contact
the Washington military department emergency management division. A person may
not return the equipment to the water or beach until the problem is corrected.
A person must store fuel and lubricants away from the water inside a vehicle or
landward of the beach, and in the shade when possible.
(g) A person may work only from one-half hour
before official sunrise to one-half hour after official sunset.
(h) A person may not undermine, cut, disturb,
or move embedded large woody material or woody debris jams.
(i) A person must backfill all trenches,
depressions, or holes created in the beach during project activities before
moving to another excavation site (except during use as a settling pond) or
leaving an excavation site.
(j) A
person may use pressurized water only for redistributing dredge tailings within
the wetted perimeter. No other use of pressurized water is permitted.
(k) A person may not disturb live razor clams
or other shellfish within the bed. If a person observes or encounters live
razor clams or other shellfish during excavation, the person must relocate the
operation.
(l) If at any time, as a
result of project activities, a person observes a fish kill or fish life in
distress, a person must immediately stop operations and notify the department,
and the Washington military department emergency management division of the
problem. A person may not resume work until the department gives approval. The
department will require additional measures to mitigate the prospecting
impacts.
Disclaimer: These regulations may not be the most recent version. Washington may have more current or accurate information. We make no warranties or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the information contained on this site or the information linked to on the state site. Please check official sources.
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