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NPDES Status
NPDES Permit
The Sacramento Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant (SRWTP) is currently in the process of renewing its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit. Effluent, or treated wastewater, that is discharged from SRWTP into the Sacramento River is regulated by an NPDES discharge permit. Without the permit, the plant cannot legally discharge its effluent.
The permit program is administered regionally by the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board, otherwise known as the Regional Board. The current permit was adopted in August of 2000 and expired in August 2005. NPDES permits are generally valid for five years, and District staff has been developing information for this current renewal effort since 2001. In February of 2005, SRWTP's application for permit renewal was submitted to the Regional Board. Though the treatment plant is technically operating under an expired permit, it is held to that 2000 permit's requirements and allowed to continue operation because the application was delivered by the deadline.
In recent meetings with the Regional Board, the District was informed the Regional Board plans to adopt a new permit for the SRWTP in the summer of 2009. The District's Permit Renewal Team is anticipating that significant effort will be required to provide additional clarifying information that may be requested by the Regional Board during the permit renew process.
SRWTP is currently permitted to discharge secondary effluent at an Average Dry Weather Flowrate (ADWF), as measured during the summer months, of 181 million gallons per day, or mgd. The treatment plant's 2020 Master Plan anticipates wastewater flows to the SRWTP to increase in the future. In anticipation of increasing flows, the District has requested a capacity increase in its application to renew the discharge permit.