The Washington state department of ecology (ecology) reissued the aquatic mosquito control general permit (permit).

State and federal water quality regulations do not allow the discharge of pollutants to waters of the state without permit coverage. The chemicals allowed for use in the final permit are potential pollutants, and therefore, require a discharge permit. When the permitted activities are similar, ecology issues a general permit in place of a series of individual permits.

The permit becomes effective on July 5, 2019, and expires on July 4, 2024.

Purpose of the Permit: The aquatic mosquito control general permit is a national pollutant discharge elimination system (NPDES) permit and state waste discharge permit. The permit conditionally authorizes discharges of larvicides and indirect discharges of adulticides to surface waters of Washington state, to control mosquitoes.

Public Notice Process and Comments: Ecology accepted public comment on the draft permit, fact sheet, notice of intent, economic impact analysis, and SEPA compliance documents from March 6, 2019, until April 19, 2019. Ecology offered public workshops and hearings via an online webinar on April 9, 2019, and in person in Ellensburg on April 10, 2019.

Ecology received written comments and verbal testimony during the public comment period. The comments are included as an addendum to the fact sheet (Appendix C), as well as ecology's response to comments (Appendix B).

You may download copies of the final permit, the response to comments, the fact sheet, and other supporting documents from the ecology web site at www.ecology.wa.gov/mosquitopermit. You may also request permit documents by contacting the water quality program at 360-407-6600.

Ecology Contact: Stacey Callaway, Washington State Department of Ecology, P.O. Box 47696, Olympia, WA 98504-7696, 360-407-7118, Stacey.Callaway@ecy.wa.gov.

Your Right to Appeal this Permit: You may appeal this permit to the pollution control hearings board (PCHB) within thirty days of the receipt of this permit. A focus sheet describing the process to appeal permits is available at the following link https://fortress.wa.gov/ecy/publications/documents/1710009.pdf.

You may also request copies of the focus sheet by contacting Dena Jaskar at dena.jaskar@ecy.wa.gov or 360-407-6401.

Assistance for Persons with Disabilities: To request ADA accommodation for disabilities or printed materials in a format for the visually impaired, call ecology at 360-407-6600 or visit www.ecy.wa.gov/accessibility.html.

Persons with impaired hearing may call the Washington relay service at 711. Persons with a speech disability may call TTY at 877-833-6341.