General Winery Permit

The Regional Water Board has adopted General Waste Discharge Requirements for winery wastewater systems (General Permit for Wineries.) In the past, the Regional Water Board issued individual Waste Discharge Requirements (WDRs) for winery wastewater treatment and disposal systems that utilize surface treatment and/or disposal of wastewater, while subsurface disposal systems were generally issued waivers of WDRs. Recent changes in state law limit the use and applicability of such waivers. An increasing number of wineries are being proposed and constructed within our region, and issuing individual WDRs and waivers requires significant staff time. Many older wineries have WDRs that are out of date and need to be renewed. Therefore, the use of General WDRs is the best method to ensure increased water quality protection, uniformity, and regulatory efficiency.

The following documents are available electronically:

• Press Release
• General Waste Discharge Requirements Order No. R1-2002-0012 for Discharges of Winery Waste to Land
  
• Monitoring and Reporting Program No. R1-2002-0012 For General Waste Discharge Requirements for Discharges of Winery Waste to Land
  
• Fact Sheet for General Permit for Wineries
  
• Notice of Intent (pdf)
• Notice of Intent (word document)
  This is the application form for General Permit for Wineries
• Instruction sheet for Notice of Intent
  This provides instruction and guidance for completing the NOI

This is the public notice that you will need to have published as part of the application process. Fill it out with the information for your facility and arrange for publication in a general circulation newspaper. At the same time, you will need to post it in a public location in the project area (such as a fencepost, gate, or the like.)

• Winery Public Notice (pdf)

If you have any questions, please call Rhonda Raymond at 707-576-2708.