Efforts to Increase Data Availability 
To minimize ecological and public health risks from the presence of a 
variety of chemical contaminants in the receiving waters of Puget 
Sound, a realistic source control, compliance, and enforcement program 
must be implemented region wide. The initial step towards this goal 
has already been taken under the Puget Sound Initiative through the 
development of Action Plans for contaminated embayments such as 
Commencement Bay, Elliott Bay, and Everett Harbor. In these plans, 
recommendations are made for short-term and long-term actions. For 
example, in Elliott Bay suggested interim actions include source 
control and compliance inspections with additional field data 
collection requirements to support the long-term action plan design. 
These recommendations are a good first step; however, the mechanism for 
their implementation have not been designated yet. 
One of the mechanisms that can be immediately utilized to obtain more 
detailed information on the types and concentrations of contaminants 
discharged to Puget Sound is the implementation of more stringent 
monitoring requirements under the NPDES permitting process (i.e., 
requiring that samples of the discharge effluent be analyzed for all 
toxicants suspected to be preset in the discharge). The NPDES 
permitting system is described briefly below. 
NPDES permitting is conducted on a case-by-case basis. Seven broad 
classifications of discharges in Region X are designated. These 
include: coal mining; ore mining; oil and gas; seafood processing; 
municipal, pulp and paper; and aluminum. Department of Ecology 
permitting staff who specialize in these particular discharges 
determine permissible discharge concentrations and monitoring 
requirements based upon data for similar discharges, information 
supplied by the applicant, and the use and quality of the v/ater body 
receiving the discharge. Evaluation of permit compliance based on 
regularly submitted discharge monitoring reports and facility 
inspections is performed by a separate compliance division. 
Historically, only discharge flow rate, the conventional pollutants 
(e.g., nutrients and suspended solids) and metals have been monitored 
for the majority of Puget Sound dischargers. More recently, some NPDES 
permits are being written to require analyses for the priority 
pollutants suspected to be present in the discharge. EPA and 
Department of Ecology are currently reexamining the overall NPDES 
permit process with the idea of increasing monitoring requirements as 
expired permits are reissued. 
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