Purpose: To amend WAC 246-272A-0130 Bacteriological reduction, to create a more accurate and less costly protocol for the testing of on-site sewage system proprietary treatment products. During the recent on-site rule revision process a protocol for demonstrating bacteriological reduction was adopted. However, this protocol has since been identified as being impractical for some testing facilities to complete. A suitable protocol is critical so that product manufacturers have clear direction as to the requirements for product registration.

     Citation of Existing Rules Affected by this Order: Amending WAC 246-272A-0130.

     Statutory Authority for Adoption: RCW 43.20.050.

     Under RCW 34.05.350 the agency for good cause finds that immediate adoption, amendment, or repeal of a rule is necessary for the preservation of the public health, safety, or general welfare, and that observing the time requirements of notice and opportunity to comment upon adoption of a permanent rule would be contrary to the public interest.

     Reasons for this Finding: The State Board of Health finds that immediate amendment of WAC 246-272A-0130 is necessary for the preservation of the public health, safety or general welfare, and that observing the time requirements of notice and opportunity to comment would be contrary to the public interest because the protocol adopted and scheduled to go into effect on September 15, 2005:

•     Is not consistent with the capabilities of some of the laboratories who would perform the testing due to the inability to have samples analyzed within the maximum holding times specified by standard methods;

•     Could result in a decreased level of accuracy and reliability that could potentially lead to public health concerns if products were installed whose testing results were incorrect;

•     Could lead to an increased potential of sample contamination due to a greater than needed number of samples and the samples being handled more frequently;

•     Is not consistent with protocols used by many other states. Thus, a manufacturer may make a significant investment only to find out that retesting must be done to have a product used in other states;

     And further finds that:

•     Despite the Department of Health (DOH) actions to inform manufacturers and potential testing entities of the error and upcoming changes to the rules to rectify the error, manufacturers may have their product tested to the adopted protocol, possibly necessitating expensive retesting.

•     DOH discussion with both manufacturers and technical representatives of the primary testing laboratory (the sources for the adopted language) concluded that the adopted protocol provides less assurance of accuracy and reliability at an increased cost to the manufacturer.

     Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Comply with Federal Statute: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; Federal Rules or Standards: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Recently Enacted State Statutes: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.

     Number of Sections Adopted at Request of a Nongovernmental Entity: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.

     Number of Sections Adopted on the Agency's Own Initiative: New 0, Amended 1, Repealed 0.

     Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Clarify, Streamline, or Reform Agency Procedures: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.

     Number of Sections Adopted Using Negotiated Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0;      Pilot Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Other Alternative Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.

     Date Adopted: September 6, 2005.

Craig McLaughlin

Executive Director

OTS-8282.2

AMENDATORY SECTION(Amending WSR 05-15-119, filed 7/18/05, effective 9/15/05)

WAC 246-272A-0130   Bacteriological reduction.   This section establishes the requirements for registering bacteriological reduction processes.

     (1) Manufacturers shall, for the purpose of product registration as described in WAC 246-272A-0110 and 246-272A-0120 for meeting treatment levels A, B, or C, verify bacteriological reduction performance by sampling for fecal coliform.

     (a) For products not yet tested according to ANSI/NSF Standard 40 testing protocol dated July 1996 or later, the requirements of both ANSI/NSF Standard 40 and the protocol specified in subsection (2) of this section for verifying bacteriological reduction must be met.

     (b) For products that have been tested according to ANSI/NSF Standard 40 dated July 1996 or later but have not yet been tested for bacteriological reduction, treatment performance of the treatment product or sequence may be established based on test results for CBOD₅ and TSS obtained from the previous ANSI/NSF Standard 40 testing and bacteriological reduction performance based on testing according to the protocol in subsection (2) of this section. Provided that the testing entity must verify the influent wastewater stream throughout the bacteriological testing period meets the influent threshold levels for CBOD₅ and TSS required by ANSI/NSF Standard 40 testing protocol.

     (2) All test data submitted for product registration shall be produced by an ANSI accredited, third-party testing and certification organization whose accreditation is specific to on-site wastewater treatment products. Bacteriological reduction performance must be determined while the treatment product or sequence is tested according to the ANSI/NSF Standard 40 testing protocol. During this testing the following requirements apply:

     (a) Collect samples from both the influent and effluent streams, identifying the treatment performance achieved by the full treatment process (component or sequence);

     (b) Obtain influent characteristics falling within a range of 10⁶ - 10⁸ fecal coliform/100 mL calculated as thirty-day geometric means during the test.

     (c) Test the influent to any disinfection unit and report the following at each occasion of sampling performed in (d) of this subsection:

     (i) Flow rate;

     (ii) pH;

     (iii) Temperature;

     (iv) Turbidity; and

     (v) Color.

     (d) Obtain samples for fecal coliform analysis throughout the testing period, including both design loading and stress loading recovery periods, as follows:

     (i) Both an influent and an effluent grab sample must be ((taken during each of the three daily design loading periods)) collected and analyzed on three separate days of each week; and

     (ii) Each of the three influent samples and three effluent samples collected ((each day must be combined and analyzed as a single sample for that day. The effluent samples for each day must also be combined and analyzed as a single sample for that day)) over the course of the week must be collected during a different daily design loading period so that there is an influent and effluent sample for each of the three loading periods identified by NSF Standard 40.

     (e) Conduct analyses according to standard methods;

     (f) Report the geometric mean of fecal coliform test results from all samples taken within thirty-day or monthly calendar periods;

     (g) Report the individual results of all samples taken throughout the test period design and stress loading; and

     (h) Report all maintenance and servicing conducted during the testing period, including for example, instances of cleaning a UV lamp, or replenishment of chlorine chemicals.

     (3) Manufacturers may register products in treatment levels A and B using disinfection.

     (4) Manufacturers may not register products for treatment level C using disinfection.

[Statutory Authority: RCW 43.20.050. 05-15-119, § 246-272A-0130, filed 7/18/05, effective 9/15/05.]

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