PORT ANGELES — Do you wash your car on your driveway or in the street?
If you wash it there, instead of on your lawn, after Nov. 1, you could violate new stormwater regulations that will take effect in Port Angeles that day.
And the city could shut off your water service, if you are cited repeatedly for violating the rules.
The new federally mandated regulations, which are enforced by the state Department of Ecology, are meant to reduce the amount of pollution discharged into streams and Port Angeles Harbor.
The new requirements focus mostly on development and land use but also will require residents to wash their vehicles on a permeable surface, such as grass, or ensure that the water doesn’t drain into the city’s stormwater system.
To explain the new regulations, Port Angeles city staff members will host two presentations, one from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. today and another from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Thursday, in the council chambers at City Hall, 321 E. Fifth St.
The presentation will include information on an ordinance to revise the Port Angeles Municipal Code, which the City Council is expected to adopt by Aug. 15.
Port Angeles is required by Ecology to implement the new regulations as a National Pollution Discharge Elimination System Phase II city under the federal Clean Water Act.
The designation is based upon the city having a density of 1,000 people per square mile and more than 10,000 residents.
The city received the designation in December 2006. It is the only Phase II city on the North Olympic Peninsula.
Education
City Civil Engineer Terri Partch said once the regulation comes into effect, the city won’t seek violations but instead will respond to complaints.
And she doesn’t expect city officials to punish people every time they are found to be washing their cars inappropriately.
Instead, the city will focus more upon education.
“Basically, I’d go out and talk to the guy,” she said. “Hopefully, they would be willing to stop doing what they are doing . . . and go to a car wash.”
“We hope to be able to make people understand that the surfactants in the soap kill fish.”
If a resident’s violations became egregious, Partch said the city could shut off the resident’s water.
The new regulations also allow the city to fine violators between $100 to $1,000 for each violation — depending upon which section is violated — or to issue a stop work order, for instance, to developers who are found to be in violation.
The new stormwater requirements don’t just focus on the average Joe washing his car.
The new regulations also require:
• A stormwater permit from the city for draining a chlorinated water source, such as a swimming pool or hot tub, charity car wash and all new development that does not require a building permit but discharges water into the stormwater system.
• For all development that disturbs more than 1 acre of soil, a stormwater pollution prevention plan, runoff treatment, stormwater flow control, wetland protection measures and plans for the operations and maintenance of the permitted facilities.
Partch said stormwater treatment could involve placing certain soils, known for trapping contaminants, in the water’s path or by using manufactured treatment systems.
For stormwater flow control, the stormwater must be released at a rate that doesn’t exceed the flow rate that existed prior to development.
If stormwater drains into a wetland from the project, the developer must treat the water and control its rate of flow to ensure that the wetland isn’t damaged.
• For all development that disturbs less than 1 acre of soil, a small project drainage plan will be required, as well as incentives to disperse roof downspouts, for mitigation of 10 percent of the impervious surfaces and for limiting the effects of disturbed soil. Treatment of stormwater will be needed if a local stream will be affected.
Car wash businesses already comply with clean water regulations and are not affected by the new requirements.
Fire-fighting activities are exempt.
Partch said no other stormwater regulations are expected to be implemented until 2012, when the city will have to renew its permit to discharge stormwater into state waters.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
