Winery general permit

Yes. Coverage under a general permit gives you a level of legal and financial protections. The general permit provides broad coverage, economy of scale, and extensive protection.

Individual permits are highly tailored and are more likely to differ from other winery individual permits.

Delegated sewage treatment plants have the authority to issue permits to industrial operations that discharge wastewater to their sewage treatment plant. Those industrial facilities have an agreement with the plant and must meet specific requirements.

Non-delegated sewage treatment plants
Ecology issues permits to these plants. This also includes the contract or user agreement issued by the non-delegated publicly owned treatment works. We will work with the non-delegated sewage treatment plants to ensure they can work effectively with winery wastewater.

There are approximately 20 delegated wastewater treatment plants across the state.
 

Winery process wastewater is any water that, during wine manufacturing or processing, comes in direct contact with, or results from, the production or use of any raw material, intermediate product, finished product, byproduct, or waste product. It may include:

• Pomace (for example, grape skins, stems, and seeds).
• Lees (deposits of dead or residual yeast and other particles that accumulate at the bottom of a vat of wine after fermentation and aging).
• Bottle and barrel rinse water, and equipment or floor wash water.

The wine industry is growing rapidly so there is a need for standardized wastewater management requirements. The principal reason for a new winery general permit is to manage wastewater and to protect waters of the state (groundwater and surface water).

Our goal is to develop a general permit that protects water quality, supports a strong economy, and meets the needs of the wine industry.

We heard from representatives of wineries that the vast majority of Washington wineries have very low annual production volumes and are already heavily regulated. In the proposed draft, we included flexibility, compliance options, benchmarks, and scaled requirements for small producers and existing facilities. The proposed draft permit focuses on best management practices and data collection.
 

Winery process wastewater has the potential to contaminate groundwater, which is where many of us get our drinking water. Contamination can occur if a winery’s septic tank and drainfield system fails, if their wastewater lagoon leaks, or if they use too much untreated wastewater to irrigate their crops.

Winery process wastewater can also overwhelm wastewater treatment plants, potentially causing untreated sewage to flow into Puget Sound, rivers, and groundwater. 
 

Not everyone in the wine-making industry will be covered by the Winery General Permit. We are proposing that wineries who discharge winery process wastewater to one of the six approved discharge methods (listed in the Winery General Permit) and do not qualify as one of the exceptions, must apply for permit coverage.

We are proposing numerous exceptions. One example is that a winery that typically produces less than 7,500 cases per year is not required to apply for permit coverage. Another example is a winery that discharges to a delegated publicly owned treatment works (POTW), which is a wastewater treatment plant like the five delegated POTWs in King County or the Walla Walla POTW, is not required to apply for permit coverage.