DEQ consolidates wastewater and septic fees, proposes new recycled‑water permit fee to sustain reuse program

The Department of Environmental Quality told the House Environment, Energy and Technology Committee it is proposing a consolidated fee chapter that would gather existing wastewater, septic and reuse permit fees into a single rule and establish a new fee schedule for recycled‑water (reuse) permits.

"We're also introducing a new fee for recycled water permits," said Mary Anne Nelson, DEQ Surface and Wastewater Division administrator, presenting docket 580-114-2401. She said the change is intended to make fees easier to find and administer and to ensure funding sustainability for the recycled‑water program.

DEQ said the proposed fee chapter consolidates minimum fees drawn from the seven local public‑health district schedules and creates a new table of minimums so that, if a health district declines to run the septic permitting program, DEQ would have a fee schedule available to operate the program. Nelson said the agency created the table by identifying…