Facilities Not Required to be Covered by a Permit

The following types of facilities DO NOT require a permit, unless determined by the DOE to be a significant contributor of pollutants:

  • Industrial facilities that submit an application and qualify for a Conditional “No Exposure” Exemption.
  • Industrial facilities that discharge only to a municipal combined sewer or sanitary sewer, these types of discharges shall only occur if authorized by the municipal sewage authority.
  • Facilities that discharge stormwater only to ground water (e.g. on-site filtration) with NO discharges to surface waters of the state under any condition.
  • Office buildings and/or administration parking lots from which stormwater does not commingle with stormwater from areas associated with industrial activity.
  • Any part of a facility with discharge that is in compliance with the instructions of an On-Scene-Coordinator pursuant to The Natural Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan or Pollution by Oil and Hazardous Substances.
  • Any land application site used for the beneficial use of industrial or municipal wastewater for agricultural activities or when applied for landscaping purposes at agronomic rates.
  • Any farmland, domestic garden, or land used for sludge management where domestic sewage sludge (biosolids) is beneficially reused (nutrient builder or soil conditioner) and which is not physically located in the confines of domestic sewage treatment works, or areas that are in compliance with Section 405 (Disposal of Sewage Sludge) of the CWA.
  • Any in active coal mining operation if:
    • The performance bond issued to the facility has been released from applicable state or federal reclamation requirements after Dec. 17, 1990
    • The mine does not have a discharge of stormwater that comes into contact with any overburden, raw material, intermediate products, finished products, byproducts, or waste products located on the site of the facility.
  • Inactive mining, inactive oil and gas operations, or inactive landfills where neither an owner nor an operator can be identified.
  • Closed landfills that are capped and stabilized (in compliance with Chapter 173-304 WAC) and in which no significant materials or industrial pollutants remain exposed to stormwater.