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

REGULATE: WASTE DISCHARGES TO LAND - NON15

MEASUREMENTS

WHAT THE MEASURE IS SHOWING

The number of facilities with a permit past the review date is relatively high compared to total number of industrial facilities regulated under the program. Only 46% of the permits for industrial facilities have been reviewed/updated in accordance within the recommended frequency.  Although 485 (compared to 374 in FY 08-09) permits need to be renewed, only 14 permits were reissued during fiscal year 09-10. The backlog of expired permits varies among the different regional boards. Region 3 had an increase in the number of expired permits from 24 in FY 08-09 to 126 as of June 30, 2010.

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 The State Legislature has found that many WDRs are out of date and therefore do not reflect existing laws, regulations, and revised Water Quality Control Plans.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 extracted on July 17, 2009. Period July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2010.
• Unit of Measure: Number of active WDR 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 Expired: permits with an expiration date before June 30, 2010.
• References: More information on the Water Boards’ 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

Industrial Sources

Facilities that treat and/or dispose of liquid or semisolid wastes from any servicing, producing, manufacturing or processing operations of whatever nature including mining, gravel washing, geothermal operations, air conditioning, ship building and repairing, oil production, storage and disposal operations, and water well pumping.

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), do not involve confined animal facilities, and involve no discharge of a pollutant to a surface water of the United States (which falls under the NPDES Program), but does include discharges to surface waters not subject to the NPDES Program.

( Updated 9/20/11 )