In October 2023, we released a draft water quality permit for the City of Everett’s Water Pollution Control Facility, one of the larger wastewater treatment plants in Washington. After careful consideration of the many public comments that we received, we are issuing the final permit today.

We held a 60-day public comment period on the draft permit, which included a public hearing in January 2024. We received comments from nongovernmental organizations, the City of Everett, the Tulalip Tribes, the Washington Department of Health, and individuals.

One common theme in the comments was concern about pollutants that are emerging as water quality issues, PBDEs and PFAS. There were requests for stringent monitoring and for plans to reduce these pollutants.

We took all comments into careful consideration and made a number of changes from the draft to the final permit. Since the majority of comments were about PBDEs and PFAS, that is the focus of this blog. If you’d like to read all of the comments and our responses, they’re available in our Responses to Comments. 

Changes related to PBDEs 

PBDEs (short for polybrominated diphenyl ether) are a family of flame-retardant chemicals. They are used in a variety of consumer and industrial products, and can affect the endocrine, reproductive, immune, and nervous systems of fish. Recent studies have found elevated levels of PBDEs in juvenile Chinook salmon in parts of the Snohomish River.

The final permit expands PBDE-related requirements from the draft and consolidates them into a PBDE Reduction Program. Changes include:

• More detailed requirements for industrial wastewater pre-treatment. In 2025, the City of Everett is required to identify businesses discharging significant amounts of PBDEs into the wastewater system. In 2026, the City is required to begin to oversee how those businesses implement best management practices to control and reduce sources of PBDEs in the wastewater sent to the water pollution control facility.
• Increased monitoring. Beginning in 2027, the water pollution control facility is required to monitor influent (wastewater coming into the plant) for PBDEs every quarter. There are also monitoring requirements for the effluent (wastewater that’s discharged after treatment). The purpose of these monitoring requirements is to track the effectiveness of the source control efforts to reduce PBDEs. 

Other PBDE-related changes focus on reducing PBDEs in discharges to the Snohomish River, such as requiring the facility to discharge treated wastewater to Port Gardner through the deepwater outfall rather than through the river outfall, whenever feasible, when salmon are migrating out to sea. Another change requires evaluating how the facility’s lagoon treatment system could reduce PBDE discharges into the river.

Reports and data related to the progress of these efforts will be posted on the City’s website, as well as in Ecology’s permitting database, PARIS.

Changes related to PFAS

PFAS (short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) is a general term for a family of chemicals known as “forever chemicals” that don’t break down naturally in the environment. The draft permit included requirements for the City of Everett to identify industrial facilities likely to discharge PFAS to the sewage system and to identify best management practices those industries could use to control and reduce sources of PFAS in their discharges. The draft permit also required influent monitoring to begin at the facility in 2026.

The final permit retains the new requirements related to source control and enhances the monitoring requirements. The permit now includes quarterly influent monitoring of PFAS in 2026 and 2028. It also adds semiannual effluent monitoring during the same years. 

Next steps

The five-year permit for the Everett Water Pollution Control Facility will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2025. You can find the final permit and related information on the Everetts Water Pollution Control Facility PARIS page.