Wastewater Management Section

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Wastewater Rules Under Development

Wastewater Management Section

What we do

• Protect public health by promoting the safe treatment and disposal of domestic and other non-industrial wastewater in areas of Washington not served by municipal sewage treatment works.

• Provide assistance to local health jurisdictions regarding on-site wastewater issues.

• Review and approve plans for large on-site sewage systems.

How we do it

• Provide consultative and technical support to local health jurisdictions, on-site sewage system practitioners, the public and other local, state, and federal agencies.

• Work closely with local health jurisdictions, other agencies, private-sector practitioners, and citizens to develop and implement standards for the  performance, application, design, and operation and maintenance of on-site sewage treatment and disposal systems.

• Provide technical assistance, which includes consultations on the siting, design, installation, operation, and maintenance of on-site sewage systems.

• Staff develop policies, public information guides, and technical reports.

• Participate in the development and presentation of training courses about on-site sewage treatment technologies.

Regulatory Jurisdictions for On-Site Wastewater

(Exceptions and more detail are listed below table):

*   Senate Bill 5894, passed in the 2007 legislative session, transfers authority for large on-site sewage systems up to 100,000 gallons per day from Ecology to Health.  We are developing rules to include this expanded on-site authority.  For more information, visit our  LOSS Rule Development Activity web site.

The Local Health Officer has authority and approval over:

1. Systems with design flows through any common point up to 3,500 gallons per day.

2. Any Large On-site Sewage System for which jurisdiction has been transferred by the department to a local health jurisdiction by contract.  Counties with such agreements currently include Clallam, King, Kitsap, Thurston and San Juan.

The Washington State Department of Health (Large On-Site Program) has authority and approval over:

1. Sewage systems with design flows through any common point between 3,500 to 14,500 gallons per day (see note).

2. Any Large On-site Sewage System for which jurisdiction has been transferred to the Department of Health under conditions of memorandum of agreement with the Department of Ecology.

The Washington State Department of Ecology has authority and approval over:

1. Domestic or industrial wastewater under chapter 173-240 WAC.

2. Sewage systems using mechanical treatment, or lagoons, with ultimate design flows above 3,500 gallons per day.

3. Sewage systems with subsurface disposal with ultimate design flows above 14,500 gallons per day (see note).

4. Any system utilizing subsurface disposal which has received a federal or state construction grant administered by the Washington State Department of Ecology.

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Fees for proprietary on-site product registration

Fees for proprietary product registration were adopted into Chapter 246-272A-0990 WAC effective on January 1, 2007.  The fees are as follows:

The base fee is required at the time of application. Any hourly fees for additional review time must be paid in full before the product will be registered.

For questions, please contact the Wastewater Management Section at wastewatermgmt@doh.wa.gov, or call 360-236-3062.