Take action: require utilities to clean up sewage pollution and prepare for the future

The Department of Ecology is asking for public comment on a draft Clean Water Act discharge permit that requires sewage treatment plants to transition to advanced treatment to reduce nitrogen and other pollution. Nitrogen spurs algae blooms, and when algae decays, that robs the water of oxygen and worsens ocean acidification.

Urge the state to tighten up this pollution-control program and call on cities and counties to do their parts to protect Puget Sound. Submit your comment to Ecology today!

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Subject:

Tighten up pollution controls in the Puget Sound Nutrient General Permit

Dear Eleanor Ott, Department of Ecology,

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the Puget Sound Nutrient General Permit. Clean water is important to me personally, and we are glad to see the Department of Ecology requiring Puget Sound utilities to transition to more protective sewage treatment standards. As you know, many cities and counties have already implemented nutrient-removal technology, from Shelton to Spokane. It’s time for all utilities in the region to step up and to do so quickly.

While we want this permit to move forward, we would also like to call your attention to three areas of improvement that are needed:

1. Seattle, King County, and Tacoma are the largest dischargers, contributing over 70% of the nitrogen load, and they need to move further and faster during this permit term. They need to implement actual reductions in the next five years while also developing Nutrient Reduction Evaluation with a deadline of construction by 2030 to avoid them extending this out multiple decades.

2. The nutrient load action levels remain too permissive. Ecology set these at the 99th percentile upper confidence limit of current loads, even though no one advocated for this permissive of a statistic. This inadvertently allows tons of nitrogen pollution above safe levels for Puget Sound to protect a number that simply triggers planning activities.

3. Ecology should not delegate responsibility for determining what represents “reasonable” technology to individual plants. Ecology must maintain the responsibility to determine what constitutes “All Known and Reasonable Technology.”

In closing, while you may hear false claims that the science is uncertain or that cleaning up sewage really won’t make a big difference, please know that I disagree. Now is the time to reduce sewage pollution. Puget Sound, its waters, and the communities that rely on it deserve this protection.

Sincerely, Your Name

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Hello, my name is _____ and I live in ______.

I am calling to urge you to recognize the value of fully funding environmental programs. Environmental programs are a mere 1.9% of the state operating budget but these programs provide benefits to communities across the state through clean air, clean water, and thriving communities that make Washington a great place to live, work, and play.

Specifically, I hope you will adopt a final budget that maintains funding for existing environmental programs and provide new funding for:

- Oil spill prevention (HB 1611)

- Reducing toxic pollution (HB 2182)

- The Clean Air Rule

- Puget Sound recovery

Thank you for all of your hard work during the 2017 legislative session and for considering my comments. I look forward to hearing from you, I can be reached at __(Phone Number)__.