Committee on Water hears bill to let KDHE extend certain wastewater permits to 10 years

The Committee on Water heard testimony on House Bill 2085, which would allow the Kansas Department of Health and Environment to issue certain state water pollution permits for up to 10 years rather than the current five.

KDHE water official Tom Stiles told the committee the change would initially apply only to state-only, non-discharging permits because federal law currently caps National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits at five years. "We are proponents of House Bill 2085 that would allow us to extend permits out to as long as 10 years in length," said Tom Stiles, director of the Bureau of Water at the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.

KDHE argued the longer maximum term would reduce the agency's permit-renewal…