What You Need To Start Commenting

All discharges of pollutants into the waters of the United States from a point source are required to obtain a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit under the Clean Water Act, which restricts the type and amount of pollution allowed. Permits also include the monitoring requirements that dischargers must meet. Permits are legally binding to the facility and Oregon DEQ is charged with issuing and enforcing them. Sewage Treatment Plants are no different, although their unique technologies and processes require special considerations.

What You Need to Begin:

1) Identify the wastewater treatment facilities in your community. Determine when NPDES permits are up for renewal and the deadlines for commenting set by the DEQ. At a minimum, you will have 30 days to comment on a proposed permit.

DEQ Public Notices

DEQ main telephone number: (503) 229-5696

2) Request the proposed permit, previous permit and fact sheet from the local DEQ office. Every proposed NPDES permit will be accompanied by a Fact Sheet that explains permit characteristics, monitoring and considerations in less technical terms. This document can often lead you to some of the key issues to investigate further.

3) Sample comments that NEDC has submitted on coastal wastewater treatment facilities can be helpful in formatting your comments and understanding what key water quality issues may be in your community.

4) Relevant laws and agency regulations are necessary to determine whether the proposed permit is adhering to water quality standards. Oregon Water Quality Standards (WQS) are the most important and the most widely used in commenting. WQS set specific criteria to protect beneficial uses and water quality of the state’s waters. However, the state and federal statutes can be helpful in providing background and understanding the larger regulatory scheme.

5) A site visit may be helpful to familiarize yourself with the facility and a tour may help you understand how the facility functions and any water quality issues particular to your community.

6) Other DEQ documents may also be helpful. DEQ files on these facilities are available to the public. Call your local DEQ office to set up a time to go through the files.

• Discharge Monitoring Reports (DMR): details the monitoring of the facility of key parameters such as pH, temperature, bacteria, total suspended solids and turbidity. You can compare the actual discharge with what is permitted and the Water Quality Standards.
• Compliance/non-compliance records: useful information to determine whether this facility is currently meeting the requirements in its permit and if DEQ has taken any enforcement action for non-compliance in the past.
• Correspondence: communication between the agency and the facility is extremely helpful in framing your comments and understanding the process of permitting.
• Permit Application: compare the application with the actual permit.
• Antidegradation Analysis: the agency must conduct an analysis to determine if there is a potential for degradation. It is important to determine the existing uses that surround the facility and if the permit would result in any degradation to those uses. (ie: Is there a public beach nearby? Did the DEQ consider that?)
• Reasonable Potential Analysis (RPA): this document analyzes the likelihood that the effluent from the facility will cause a violation of water quality standards. This should be specific to each pollutant and should result in specific effluent limitations if a potential violation exists.