Watershed-Based Permitting Case Study:
Permitting Approach

Clean Water Services (Hillsboro, OR)

Fact Sheet #4

Watershed

Tualatin River

Point of Contact

Charles Logue, PE, Technical Services Department Director
Clean Water Services
(503) 681-3604

loguec@cleanwaterservices.org

Permitting Authority

Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (OR DEQ)

Additional Information

www.cleanwaterservices.org

Project Timeframe

October 2003 - September 2005

Background

~	The Tualatin River watershed, encompassing Washington County and small
portions of Multnomah and Clackamas Counties, drains approximately 710
square miles of northwestern Oregon, just west of the City of Portland.

~	Both Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) and endangered species are primary
concerns within the Tualatin River watershed.

~	One water withdrawal facility and two water storage reservoirs are also located
within the Tualatin River watershed.

~	Clean Water Services is a County Special Service District responsible for
wastewater and surface water management in urban Washington County.

-	Manages over 800 miles of sanitary sewer lines and 41 pump stations, as well
as four wastewater treatment plants.

Operates a comprehensive surface water management utility to protect
watershed health, manage flooding and maintain a regional storm water
system.

-	Administers four NPDES permits for the wastewater treatment plants that
expired in 1997 and have been administratively extended while new permits
are negotiated.

Serves as co-permittee with Washington County for a Phase I municipal
separate storm sewer system (MS4) storm water permit that covers the
urbanized portion of Washington County within the Urban Growth Boundary.
This permit expired in 2001.

-	Works with OR DEQ to cooperatively administer 79 general NPDES storm
water permits through a Memorandum of Agreement.

~ The second set of TMDLs for the Tualatin River were established in 2001. These
TMDLs address temperature, bacteria, phosphorus, ammonia, and settleable
volatile solids (i.e., storm water contribution to sediment oxygen demand).

~ This is a multi-year project designed to simultaneously improve water quality,
water quantity, and aquatic habitat in the Tualatin River Watershed that will
ultimately result in a documentable process and regulatory framework analysis

Factors to Consider in Permitting

~ Clean Water Services performs the following functions:

Pilot Project Goals


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that will demonstrate the feasibility of transitioning from a conventional NPDES
permitting approach to a watershed-based NPDES permit.

~	The goal is to evaluate the technical, stakeholder, regulatory, and legal issues
involved in developing a watershed-based permit.

Pilot Project Overview

~	The plan is divided into the following four elements:

-	Conducting stakeholder communication, outreach, and education;

-	Establishing a regulatory framework;

-	Creating watershed improvement performance measures;

-	Assessing the watershed; and

-	Developing water quality trading and other watershed management tools.
Stakeholder Outreach

~	Under this element, Clean Water Services will perform the following:

-	Develop and implement a stakeholder process that provides meaningful input
and develops support for the project.

-	Develop broad public support and regulatory Agency support for the
watershed plan outcome.

Watershed Assessment

~	Under this element, Clean Water Services will perform the following:

-	Implement strong scientific process developed for supporting good
watershed-based decisions.

-	Identify prioritized actions that are consistent with TMDL and Endangered
Species Act response.

Permitting and Regulatory Requirements

~	Under this element, Clean Water Services will perform the following:

-	Develop interim permit that will allow development of a watershed-based
permitting framework.

-	Develop a regulatory framework that will allow efficient means to attain the
highest ecosystem benefit and comply with regulatory requirements.

-	Develop a detailed 5-year project workplan to coordinate requirements under
the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act and the Safe Drinking
Water Act.

Water Quality Trading and Other Watershed Management Tools

~	Under this element, Clean Water Services will perform the following:

-	Identify relevant tools to use in watershed improvement to exceed the
improvements achievable through the traditional permitting processes.

Expected Outcomes

~	The goal for the first year of this project is to develop a draft interim watershed
permitting framework, or other appropriate regulatory agreement, as a transitional
mechanism to move to a watershed-based permit that covers multiple point source
discharges.

Pilot Project Funding

EPA is funding this project through a Clean Water Act 104(b)(3) Cooperative
Agreement.


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Pilot Project Update

Clean Water Services recently completed the final technical report for Year 1 of their

pilot project. The status of the four pilot project elements presented in the final

technical report is presented below.

Stakeholder Outreach

~	Under this element, Clean Water Services accomplished the following:

—	Developed and implemented stakeholder education and involvement plan that
goes beyond OR DEQ's specific public notice and hearing requirements.

—	Identified key stakeholders for the process by working with OR DEQ,
community stakeholders, and consultant team. Primary stakeholders include
federal, state, and local government stakeholders; elected and appointed
officials; and community, business and professional associations.

—	Conducted approximately 34 meetings and presentations with stakeholders
from May 2002 through January 2004, reaching nearly 1, 140 people
interested in watershed permitting and trading issues.

—	Received favorable and encouraging response from stakeholders who support
the concept and acknowledge a need for a more integrated approach to
watershed management.

Watershed Assessment

~	Under this element, Clean Water Services accomplished the following:

—	Reassessed the existing monitoring network by surveying various monitoring
entities within the basin to obtain detailed information on sites, parameters,
frequency, and QA/QC protocols.

—	Conducting gap analysis to identify needs and weaknesses of current
monitoring efforts to facilitate the development of an integrated, performance
monitoring plan.

—	Assembled stakeholder group of Clean Water Services staff and external
agency stakeholders to begin development of a comprehensive monitoring
plan. Work by the stakeholder group is coordinated with the TMDL
implementation plan and the basin's ESA response planning efforts.

Permitting and Regulatory Requirements

~	Under this element, Clean Water Services accomplished the following:

—	Participated in a collaborative process that resulted in a draft watershed-based
integrated permit covering the four wastewater treatment plants, the Phase I
MS4, and industrial stormwater general permits (1200-Z) for the two
wastewater treatment plants required to have coverage.

The draft watershed-based integrated permit contains water quality
trading elements for trading (1) carbonaceous BOD and ammonia both
within a facility and among the four wastewater treatment facilities and
(2) temperature with shading (i.e., tree planting in upstream agriculture
areas) and release of cool water from a reservoir. The trading elements
are in conformance with the waste load allocations from the 2001
Tualatin TMDL.

OR DEQ made the draft watershed-based integrated permit available for
public review and comment on November 14, 2003, for a 45 day period.
The final permit and supporting documentation are available at
www.dea.state.or.us/wa/wqpermit/indvpermitdocs.htm.

—	Developed the public involvement and outreach process on an ongoing basis.


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Water Quality Trading and Other Watershed Management Tools

~ Under this element, Clean Water Services accomplished the following:

—	Worked with OR DEQ to develop a water quality trading scenario for trading
temperature, nutrient, and oxygen demanding substances.

—	Developing a modeling approach to creating trading units for heat loads from
wastewater treatment facilities and relating heat loads to cooling credits from
the release of stored water and riparian shading equivalents.

—	Established the Stream Protection Opportunities Technical Advisory
Committee (SPOTAC), the group assigned the task of program development
and evaluation. SPOTAC has developed two programs to create stream shade
in agricultural areas for temperature trading purposes: 1) a modified version
of USDA's Conservation Reserve and Enhancement Program, known as
"Enhanced CREP"; and 2) a companion program called Vegetated Buffer
Areas for Conservation and Commerce.


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