Oregon Administrative Rules › Chapter 340 - DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY › Division 41 - WATER QUALITY STANDARDS: BENEFICIAL USES, POLICIES, AND CRITERIA FOR OREGON › Section 340-041-0057 - Implementation at Domestic Wastewater Treatment Works

Current through Register Vol. 63, No. 7, July 1, 2024
(1) Oregon's publicly owned sewerage
			 utilities have since 1956 developed an increasing reliance on federal sewerage
			 works construction grant funds to meet a major portion of the cost of their
			 sewerage works construction needs. This reliance did not appear unreasonable
			 based on federal legislation passed up through 1978. Indeed, the Environmental
			 Quality Commission (Commission) has routinely approved compliance schedules
			 with deadlines contingent on federal funding. This reliance no longer appears
			 reasonable based on recent and proposed legislative actions and appropriations
			 and the general state of the nation's economy.
(2) The federal funds expected for future
			 years will address a small percentage of Oregon's sewerage works construction
			 needs. Thus, continued reliance by DEQ and public agencies on federal funding
			 for sewerage works construction will not assure that sewage from a growing
			 Oregon population will be adequately treated and disposed of so that health
			 hazards and nuisance conditions are prevented, and beneficial uses of public
			 waters are not threatened or impaired by quality degradation.
(3) Therefore, the following statements of
			 policy are established to guide future sewerage works planning and
			 construction:
(a) The Commission remains
			 strongly committed to its historic program of preventing water quality problems
			 by requiring control facilities to be provided prior to the connection of new
			 or increased waste loads;
(b) The
			 Commission urges each sewerage utility in Oregon to develop, as soon as
			 practicable, a financing plan that will ensure that future sewerage works
			 construction, operation, maintenance and replacement needs can be met in a
			 timely manner. Such financing plans will be a prerequisite to Department
			 issuance of permits for new or significantly modified sewerage facilities, for
			 approval of plans for new or significantly modified sewerage facilities, or for
			 access to funding assistance from the State pollution control bond fund. The
			 Department may accept assurance of development of such financing plan if
			 necessary to prevent delay in projects already planned and in the process of
			 implementation. The Department will work with the League of Oregon Cities and
			 others as necessary to aid in the development of financing plans;
(c) No sewerage utility should assume that it
			 will receive grant assistance to aid in addressing its planning and
			 construction needs;
(d) Existing
			 sewerage facility plans that are awaiting design and construction should be
			 updated where necessary to include:
(A)
			 Evaluation of additional alternatives where appropriate, and re-evaluation of
			 costs of existing alternatives;
(B)
			 Identification and delineation of phased construction alternatives;
			 and
(C) A financing plan which will
			 assure ability to construct facilities over an appropriate time span with
			 locally derived funds.
(e) New sewerage works facility planning
			 initiated after October 1, 1981 should not be approved without adequate
			 consideration of alternatives and phased construction options, and without a
			 financing plan which assures adequate funding for construction, operation,
			 maintenance and replacement of sewerage facilities:
(A) The Commission recognizes that many
			 cities in need of immediate sewerage works construction have completed planning
			 and are awaiting design or construction funding. These cities have developed
			 their program relying on 75 percent federal grants. They will have difficulty
			 developing and implementing alternatives to fund immediate construction needs.
			 Many are, or will be, under moratoriums on new connections because existing
			 facilities are at, or near, capacity. The Commission will consider the
			 following interim measures as a means of assisting these cities to get on a
			 self-supporting basis provided that an approvable long-range program is
			 presented:
(i) Temporary increases in waste
			 discharge loading may be approved provided a minimum of secondary treatment, or
			 equivalent control is maintained and beneficial uses of the receiving waterway
			 are not impaired;
(ii) Installation
			 and operation of temporary treatment works may be approved providing:
(I) The area served is inside an approved
			 urban growth boundary and the proposal is consistent with State Land Use
			 Planning laws;
(II) A master
			 sewerage plan is adopted which shows how and when the temporary facilities will
			 be phased out;
(III) The public
			 agency responsible for implementing the master plan is the owner and operator
			 of the temporary facilities;
(IV)
			 Sewerage service to the area served by the temporary facility is necessary as
			 part of the financing program for master plan implementation and no other
			 option for service is practicably available;
(V) An acceptable receiving stream or method
			 of effluent disposal is available for the temporary facility.
(B) Compliance
			 schedules and other permit requirements may be modified to incorporate an
			 approved interim program. Compliance with a permit so modified will be required
			 at all times.
(f)
			 Sewerage Construction programs should be designed to eliminate raw sewage
			 bypassing during the summer recreation season (except for a storm event greater
			 than the ten-year, 24-hour storm) as soon as practicable. A program and
			 timetable should be developed through negotiation with each affected source.
			 Bypasses which occur during the remainder of the year should be eliminated in
			 accordance with an approved longer term maintenance based correction program.
			 More stringent schedules may be imposed as necessary to protect drinking water
			 supplies and shellfish growing areas;
(g) Any sewerage utility that is presently in
			 compliance and foresees a need to plan for future expansion to accommodate
			 growth, but elects to wait for federal funds for planning and construction,
			 will make such election with full knowledge that if existing facilities reach
			 capacity before new facilities are completed, a new-connection moratorium will
			 be imposed. Such moratorium will not qualify them for any special
			 consideration, since its presence is deemed a matter of their choice;
(h) The Department will continue to assist
			 cities to develop interim and long-range programs, use construction schedules
			 and to secure financing for essential construction.