The California Water Boards' Annual Performance Report - Fiscal Year 2009-10

REGULATE: WASTE DISCHARGES TO LAND - NON15

GROUP:

MUNICIPAL WASTE NON15 FACILITIES

MEASURE:

NUMBER OF PERMITS ADOPTED OR RENEWED
NUMBER OF PERMITS PAST RENEWAL DATE

MESSAGE:

Approximately 59% of the permits are renewed within the recommended frequency.

*KEY STATISTICS FOR FY 2009-10*
Number of Active Facilities	1,581
Number of Permits Renewed	35
Number of Permits Expired	646

MEASUREMENTS

WHAT THE MEASURE IS SHOWING

The number of municipal waste facilities with a permit past the the recommended review date is relatively high compared to total number of municipal wastewater facilities regulated under the program. Although 646 permits need to be reviewed, only 35 permits were reissued during fiscal year 09-10. The backlog of unreviewed permits varies among the different regional boards.

WHY THIS MEASURE IS IMPORTANT

Waste Discharge Requirements (WDRs) are issued for the duration of the discharge and do not contain an expiration date. Regional 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 The State Legislature has found that many WDRs are out of date and therefore do not reflect existing laws, regulations, and revised Water Quality Control Plans.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 discharger’s 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 permits.

TECHNICAL CONSIDERATIONS

Data Source: CIWQS. Period July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2010. Extracted on July 17, 2010.
Unit of Measure: Number of active NON15 permits for Industrial Waste facilities.
Data definitions: Permits issued during FY 09-10: effective date between July 1, 2009 and June 30, 2010. Permits Current: permits not expired and not issued in FY 08-09. Permits Past Renewal: permits that exceeded the recommended renewal frequency as of June 30, 2010.
References: More information on the Water Boards’ WDR NON15 program is available at: http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/land_disposal/waste_discharge_requirements.shtml
Public reports and data are available at: http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/ciwqs/publicreports.shtml

GLOSSARY

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).
Waste Discharge Requirements-NON15 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.

( Updated 9/20/11 )