H-1365.1
SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 1670
State of Washington
69th Legislature
2025 Regular Session
By House Environment & Energy (originally sponsored by Representatives Hunt, Griffey, Doglio, Bernbaum, Zahn, Salahuddin, Berry, Abbarno, Duerr, Hill, Obras, Lekanoff, Stearns, Parshley, Kloba, Reed, Ramel, Ormsby, Gregerson, and Nance)
READ FIRST TIME 02/17/25.
AN ACT Relating to increasing transparency regarding sewage-containing spills; adding new sections to chapter 90.48 RCW; and creating a new section.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature finds that municipal wastewater treatment plant owners/operators and wastewater collectors with national pollutant discharge elimination system permits are required by their water quality permits to disclose unauthorized spills or discharges containing untreated or undertreated sewage to the department of ecology, but that such notices of sewage spills are not expeditiously or easily made publicly available. Those who count on clean water quality for their jobs in fishing or aquaculture, to enjoy their recreational interests, or to pursue their cultural traditions are likely to be especially impacted by sewage spills, and would particularly benefit from a system of timely public notice in the event of a spill. A number of other states have established systems in which public notification of a spill is available in nearly real time posted by a water quality regulator, and in which alerts can be issued to those interested in the event of a spill in a particular geographic area. Therefore, it is the intent of the legislature to improve the public's ability to know about sewage spills that may impact them by establishing such a system.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. A new section is added to chapter 90.48 RCW to read as follows: