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Sanitary Sewer Systems General Order

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Sewage is untreated or partially treated domestic, municipal, commercial and/or industrial waste (including sewage sludge), and any mixture of these wastes with inflow or infiltration of stormwater or groundwater, conveyed in a sanitary sewer system. A spill is a discharge of sewage from any portion of a sanitary sewer system due to a sanitary sewer system overflow, operational failure, and/or infrastructure failure. Sewage and its associated wastewater spilled from a sanitary sewer system may threaten public health, beneficial uses of waters of the State, and the environment.

Announcements

  1. NEW! Statewide Sanitary Sewer Systems General Order – Effective June 5, 2023
  2. Public Notice
  3. Proposed Statewide Sanitary Sewer Systems General Order (Clean PDF | WORD Markup)
  4. Proposed Statewide Sanitary Sewer Systems General Order – Change Sheet No. 3
  5. Proposed Statewide Sanitary Sewer Systems General Order – Change Sheet No. 2
  6. Proposed Statewide Sanitary Sewer Systems General Order – Change Sheet No. 1
  7. Ex-Parte Board Member Communication Forms – December 6, 2022 Board Agenda Item 10
  8. Response to Comments - Draft Sanitary Sewer Systems General Order
  9. Public Comment Letters: Access to public comment letters on the January 2022 draft Sanitary Sewer Systems General Order is granted upon request. Please email SanitarySewer@waterboards.ca.gov to request access.
  10. November 14, 2022 Public Workshop PowerPoint Presentation
  11. November 14, 2022 Public Workshop Recording

Previous State Water Board Staff Workshops

February 2022 PUBLIC WORKSHOPS

The State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board) has issued a public notice announcing: (1) the availability of a Draft Statewide Sanitary Sewer System General Order, and (2) two public workshops to provide stakeholders and interested parties information regarding the Draft General Order. Stakeholders and interested parties were encouraged to provide oral feedback to staff during these workshops. Please see the Public Notice below for more details.

April 2021 PUBLIC WORKSHOPS

Issuance of Informal Staff Draft Statewide Sanitary Sewer Systems Order Reissuance

The State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board) has issued a public notice announcing: (1) the availability of an informal staff draft Statewide Sanitary Sewer System General Order, and (2) two public workshops to provide stakeholders and interested parties information regarding the preliminary informal staff draft General Order. Stakeholders and interested parties are encouraged to provide oral feedback to staff during these workshops. Please see the Public Notice below for more details.

2019 STAKEHOLDER OUTREACH WORKSHOPS

In April and May 2019, State Water Board staff conducted outreach workshops in the cities of San Diego, Sacramento, Chino, Redding, and Fresno to hear stakeholder input on the proposed reissuance of the existing Statewide Sanitary Sewer Systems General Order.

Links to 2019 Workshop Documents:

To receive up-to-date information regarding the proposed Sanitary Sewer Systems Order reissuance, please subscribe to the following email list service: https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/resources/email_subscriptions/swrcb_subscribe.html (Under the Water Quality heading, select “Sanitary Sewer Overflow Reduction Program Order Review”)

General Order Information

To provide a consistent, statewide regulatory approach to address Sanitary sewer overflows, the State Water Board adopted Statewide General Waste Discharge Requirements for Sanitary Sewer Systems, Water Quality Order No. 2006-0003 (Sanitary Sewer Systems General Order) on May 2, 2006. The Sanitary Sewer Systems General Order requires public agencies that own or operate sanitary sewer systems to develop and implement sewer system management plans and report all sanitary sewer overflows to the State Water Board’s online sanitary sewer overflow database. The Sanitary Sewer Systems General Order and its supporting documents can be viewed through the links below:

All public agencies that own or operate a sanitary sewer system that is comprised of more than one mile of pipes or sewer lines which conveys wastewater to a publicly owned treatment facility must apply for coverage under the Sanitary Sewer Systems General Order . The application or Notice of Intent (NOI) for coverage under the Sanitary Sewer Systems General Order is available at the link below:

Sewage Spill Incident Maps

These interactive geographic information system (GIS) maps, updated nightly, plot all certified sanitary sewer overflows sanitary sewer overflows and Private Lateral Sewage Discharges from sanitary sewer collection systems (not including any spills from wastewater (sewage) treatment plants), reported by agencies into the state’s online California Integrated Water Quality System. This includes the spill location, amount, source, and name of the responsible or reporting agency.

A second map allows users to see Private Lateral Sewage Discharges, voluntarily reported from enrollees in the program from pipes which empty into public sewer collection systems. Private lateral spills are caused from failures in pipes that tie private businesses and homes into the public sewer collection system, and are maintained by individual property owners. They often suffer from overflows which can affect public sewer collection systems.

Online Sanitary Sewer Overflow Database Access and Use

The Sanitary Sewer Overflow database is accessed through the California Integrated Water Quality System (CIWQS), which is the State Water Board’s regulatory and water quality information management system.

The collection system questionnaire gathers information related to an enrollee’s agency and facilities. This information will allow the performance of an enrollee’s sanitary sewer system to be put into the context of site-specific characteristics. The information collected includes population served, miles of pipe, and age of the sanitary sewer system. To view a copy of the collection system questionnaire, please refer to the Dischargers Users Guide.

The Sanitary Sewer Overflow report collects detailed information on a specific overflow event. Enrollees are required to report all sanitary sewer overflows that result from a failure in any portion of a sanitary sewer system under their management. For the purposes of reporting, sanitary sewer overflows fall into one of three categories. The definitions for each Category are listed in Table 1, below.

SPILL

CATEGORIES
CATEGORY 1

Discharges of untreated or partially treated wastewater of any volume resulting from an enrollees sanitary sewer system failure or flow condition that:

Reach surface water and/or reach a drainage channel tributary to a surface water; or

Reach a municipal separate storm sewer system and are not fully captured and returned to the sanitary sewer system or not otherwise captured and disposed of properly. Any volume of wastewater not recovered from the municipal separate storm sewer system is considered to have reached surface water unless the storm drain system discharges to a dedicated storm water or ground water infiltration basin (e.g., infiltration pit, percolation pond).

CATEGORY 2 Discharges of untreated or partially treated wastewater of 1,000 gallons or greater resulting from an enrollee’s sanitary sewer system failure or flow condition that do not reach surface water, a drainage channel, or a municipal separate storm sewer system unless the entire SSO discharged to the storm drain system is fully recovered and disposed of properly.
CATEGORY 3 All other discharges of untreated or partially treated wastewater resulting from an enrollees sanitary sewer system failure or flow condition.

Sanitary sewer overflows information reported by enrollees includes location of overflow, volume of sewage spilled, and cause of the overflow. A copy of the Category 1, Category 2, and Category 3 spills can be found in the Dischargers User Guide.

If an enrollee does not have any sanitary sewer overflows in a calendar month, they are required to complete a no spill certification. The no spill certification form can be viewed at the link below:

Sewer System Management Plan Development/Implementation

Every enrollee is required to develop and implement a Sewer System Management Plan. The Sewer System Management Plan documents an enrollee’s program to properly operate and maintain its sanitary sewer system. Each Sewer System Management Plan should address the following elements:

  1. Goal
  2. Organization
  3. Legal Authority
  4. Operation and Maintenance Program
  5. Design and Performance Provisions
  6. Overflow Emergency Response Plan
  7. Fats, Oils, and Grease (FOG) Control Program
  8. System Evaluation and Capacity Assurance Plan
  9. Monitoring, Measurement, and Program Modifications
  10. SSMP Program Audits
  11. Communication Program

For a detailed explanation of the Sewer System Management Plan elements, please refer to the Sanitary Sewer Systems WDR above.

The Sewer System Management Plan must be updated every five (5) years, and must include significant program changes. Re-certification by the Enrollee governing board is required in accordance with section D.14 of the Sanitary Sewer Systems General Order when significant updates to the Sewer System Management Plan are made. To complete the re-certification process, Enrollees are required to provide an electronic copy of their Sewer System Management Plan to the Online Sanitary Sewer Overflow Database. 

New! Sewer System Management Plan and Program Audit Due Dates Look Up (search by WDID number)

Sanitary Sewer Systems General Order Enrollee Training

The State Water Board signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with California Water Environment Association (CWEA) to develop a training course for the Sanitary Sewer Systems General Order. CWEA will offer the courses statewide to educate enrollees about the terms of the Sanitary Sewer Systems General Order, use of the online sanitary sewer overflow database, and development of a sewer system management plan Sewer System Management Plan. For details about the course content and schedule, please visit the CWEA Website.

Related Links:

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Contacts

Permit Information

Reporting/Sewer System Management Plan/Spill Event Requests Information

Program Documents

Historical Documents

Wet Wipes Labelling Law

Annual Reports Required by Assembly Bill 818 (2021), Wet Wipes Labelling Law

Sanitary Sewer Overflow Compliance & Enforcement Information Annual Compliance Report