The California Water Boards' Annual Performance Report - Fiscal Year 2016-17
REGULATE: WASTE DISCHARGES TO LAND - WDR
GROUP:
MUNICIPAL WASTE FACILITIES
MEASURE:
NUMBER OF PERMITS ADOPTED OR RENEWED
NUMBER OF PERMITS PAST RENEWAL DATE AS OF END OF FISCAL YEAR 2016-17
MESSAGE:
29 percent of permits for municipal facilities regulated by the WDR Program are current.
Key Statistics for FY 2016-17
Number of Active Facilities
1,097
Number of Permits Renewed
51
Number of Permits Past Renewal Date
777
MEASUREMENTS - Data Last Updated on: 04-09-2018 (10:05 am)
Region
Active Number of Facilities
Permits Issued / Renewed During
FY 16-17
Permits Past Renewal Date as of June 30, 2017
Percentage Facilities With Current Permits
1
72
0
51
29%
2
47
3
38
19%
3
106
1
76
28%
4
63
1
44
30%
5
516
39
379
27%
6
87
0
69
21%
7
69
5
14
80%
8
36
0
24
33%
9
101
2
82
19%
TOTAL
1,097
51
777
29%
WHAT THE MEASURE IS SHOWING
As of the end of Fiscal Year (FY) 2016-17, 29 percent of permits for municipal waste facilities are current, while the remaining 771 permits for municipal facilities were past their expiration/review date (i.e., not updated) as of June 30, 2017 and may be considered backlog. The permit backlog remains to be addressed and may represent an additional workload for FY 2017-18. The permit backlog varies among the Regional Water Boards.
WHY THIS MEASURE IS IMPORTANT
WDRs are issued for the duration of the discharge and do not contain an expiration date. Regional Water Boards are authorized to review WDRs periodically pursuant to Section 13263(e) of the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act. The State Legislature has found that many WDRs are out of date and therefore do not reflect existing laws, regulations, and revised Water Quality Control Plans. The Water Boards recommend that WDRs be reviewed on a frequency of five, ten, or fifteen years, based on the dischargers Threat to Water Quality (TTWQ). WDRs that have not been reviewed/updated are considered to be backlogged. This measure describes the workload associated with existing requirements.
TECHNICAL CONSIDERATIONS
Data Source: CIWQS. Period July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2017.
Unit of Measure: Number of active municipal facilities regulated under an individual WDR during FY 16-17.
Data Definitions:Permits updated during FY 16-17: Review/adoption date between July 1, 2016 and June 30, 2017. Permits Current: Permits not expired and not adopted/updated in FY 16-17. Permits Expired: Permits with an expiration date before June 30, 2017.
Facilities discharging municipal waste serving a population equivalent to 1,000 people and with a design flow of greater than 100,000 gallons a day. This group only includes those facilities regulated with individual Waste Discharge Requirements (WDR).
Municipal Sources
Facilities that treat sewage or a mixture of predominantly sewage and other waste from districts, municipalities, communities, hospitals, schools, and publicly or privately owned systems (excluding individual surface leaching systems disposing of less than 1,000 gallons per day).
Small Municipal and Domestic Waste Facilities
Facilities discharging municipal waste serving a population equivalent to less than 1,000 people and with a design flow less than 100,000 gallons a day. Small municipal waste facilities are typically regulated under a general order and may include facilities discharging to subsurface systems such as septic tanks and leach fields or small wastewater package plants.
Waste Discharge Requirements Program
The Waste Discharge Requirements (WDR) Program regulates all point source discharges of waste to land that do not require full containment (which falls under the Land Discharge Program), or are not subject to the NPDES Program.
Review/Update Actions
The Waste Discharge Requirements WDRs are to be reviewed according to a schedule based upon their TTWQ Category as follows: TTWQ 1= Every 5 years, TTWQ 2= Every 10 years and TTWQ 3= Every 15 years. TTWQ 1 has the highest priority. There are three possible actions which may result from the WDR review/update process: rescission, continuance, or revision. A revision requires the issuance of a new WDR with a new adoption date. No formal Regional Board action is required to continue WDRs without change. A memorandum signed by the Regional Board Executive Officer (EO), documenting that the review concluded that the existing WDR is appropriate and that no changes are necessary at this time, is placed in the WDR file.
