Photo by LA County Department of Public Works.

State Water Board Executive Director Provides Update on Sanitary Sewer System WDR Program

By Executive Director, State Water Board, Collection Systems

On December 6, 2022, the State Water Board adopted the reissued Sanitary Sewer Systems General Order (Order) with the effective date of June 5, 2023. The reissued Order updates the 16-year-old statewide Waste Discharge Requirements to:

• Clarify existing Water Code regulations and compliance expectations to address spills to waters of the State
• Address climate change impacts on a system-specific level
• Reduce Cost of Compliance through reduced spill reporting and extended planning periods
• Clarify Order enforceability by requiring full electronic reporting into the California Integrated Water Quality System (CIWQS)

Staff conducted the following implementation actions:

• Presented in several workshops and training events organized by sanitation associations to provide training on the Order requirements.
• Trained the consultants who were training enrollees.
• Prepared guidance documents and collaborated with a volunteer consultant to prepare training videos, providing step by step instruction for preparing and submitting required reports in CIWQS. Guidance documents and training videos are available on the Sanitary Sewer Systems Order program website.
• Resumed bi-weekly meetings with the Data Review Group to resolve issues with updated CIWQS reporting modules.
• Continued weekly meetings with the Division of Information Technology staff to address required CIWQS Sanitary Sewer System database modifications for the updated requirements.

The existing enrollees of the previous Order 2006-0003-DWQwere required to electronically certify a continuation of coverage form in the CIWQS Sanitary Sewer System database within 60 days prior to the effective date of the reissued Order. Previous enrollees that failed to continue coverage received a Notice of Termination and are required to submit a new application package to obtain regulatory coverage.

• 1009 sanitary sewer systems are enrolled under the reissued Order.
• 112 of previously enrolled systems remain without regulatory coverage and have been identified as still needing coverage.

Division of Water Quality staff provided a list of sanitary sewer systems without regulatory coverage to each Regional Board and the Office of Enforcement for coordinated outreach and enforcement efforts.

Further information regarding the reissued Sanitary Sewer Systems General Order and the available compliance tools is available at:
https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/sso/
Irrigated Lands Regulatory Program Update: The Irrigated Lands Regulatory reports are included in Appendix A of this report.
Statewide Policies and Significant General Permits: The Statewide Policies and Significant General Permits report can be accessed at the
Statewide and Regional Policies / Significant General Permits website.