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Cowlitz County adopts updated wastewater pretreatment ordinance for Longview industrial area
Summary
The board adopted amendments to Chapter 15-15010 to replace instantaneous discharge limits with daily maximums and monthly averages (aligning with MPDS permit language) for users in the 3 Rivers Regional Wastewater Authority service area, a change staff said gives industrial users more realistic compliance metrics.
The Cowlitz County Board of Commissioners adopted an update to the county’s discharge/pretreatment ordinance (Chapter 15‑15010) for the area of county sewer that discharges to the 3 Rivers Regional Wastewater Authority.
County engineer Susan Eugenis said the change replaces fixed instantaneous discharge limits with a regime of daily maximums and monthly averages — aligning permit compliance with an updated headworks study and the MPDS permit — and adds limits for certain volatile organic compounds based on Permissible Exposure Limits. Eugenis said the revision is primarily a technical and housekeeping update to protect treatment equipment, microbial processes and staff while making permit compliance more attainable for commercial and industrial users in the industrial area of Longview.
Eugenis noted the change gives large users such as landfill leachate operations and industrial port users more flexibility: "Because that average is less than the 350, you will not be in violation of your permit because your daily maximum is still below the 455 level," she said, describing example sampling scenarios. Staff emphasized the county’s own leachate operations were already being managed to meet these bounds.
After opening the hearing for public comment and receiving no objections specific to the ordinance change, a commissioner moved to approve the ordinance amending Section 15‑15010. The board voted in favor and the ordinance was adopted.
What happens next: staff will incorporate the revised pretreatment policy into county permitting and continue a study to ensure the county’s leachate and industrial customers operate within the new averaging framework.
