Winery Program
Statewide General Waste Discharge Requirements for Winery Process Water
The statewide General Waste Discharge Requirements for Winery Process Water Order WQ 2021-0002-DWQ (Winery Order) was adopted on January 20, 2021. The Winery Order is intended to streamline and improve permitting consistency for winery process water discharges to land and protect groundwater resources. The Winery Order is applicable to facilities that currently or plan to produce wine or grape juice generating between 10,000 and 15,000,000 gallons of process water per year that results in the discharge of process water or solids to land, such as to a pond or via land application for irrigation or through a septic-subsurface disposal system. The Winery Order includes varying requirements determined by a regulatory tier classification based on the volume of winery process water discharged to land annually, which is also the basis for the annual permit fee.
The Winery Order application or electronic Notice of Intent (eNOI) is available online. The State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board) developed a Winery Order Electronic Notice of Intent Help Guide to support the application process. The Winery Order and additional information including permit fees is available on the State Water Board’s Winery Order website.
The Winery Order requires that existing wineries without permit or Waste Discharge Requirements coverage for the discharge of winery process water to land enroll within three years of the Order adoption date, which is January 20, 2024. New and expanding wineries are required to apply for Winery Order coverage via the eNOI process at least 180 days prior to commencement of the new or expanded operation.
Contact the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Water Board at RB2-Winery@waterboards.ca.gov for a copy of our regional Winery Order Application Process Guidance document for more detailed information on applying for Winery Order coverage. A complete application also includes a technical report. Refer to Winery Order Attachment C, which includes a technical report outline that is intended to provide general guidance on the content to include in the technical report that is tailored to site-specific conditions as appropriate.
Wineries in Napa County
Wineries enrolled in the Napa County Winery Waste Discharge Program that were approved for extended coverage, have a three-year Winery Order application date extension up to January 20, 2027, or earlier at the discretion of Napa County or the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board based on whether the facility is in substantial compliance with local requirements. The deadline to apply for extended coverage has passed. Wineries that are not in Napa County’s Winery Waste Discharge Program are required to enroll in the Winery Order by January 20, 2024, for existing wineries, and 180 days prior to commencement for new wineries.
We updated the Memorandum of Understanding with Napa County Planning, Building and Environmental Services for providing regulatory oversight and issuing operating permits to existing permitted wineries that discharge process water or waste to land until Napa County is authorized to implement the Winery Order via the Local Agency Oversight Program.
Contact Info
If you have a question specific to the San Francisco Bay Region, email us at RB2-Winery@waterboards.ca.gov
If you have general questions about the Winery Order, contact the State Water Board winery team at DWQ-Winery@waterboards.ca.gov
We also recommend subscribing to the State Water Board’s winery email distribution list located at the bottom of their website under ‘Stay Informed’ to receive updates.
