Proposed Water Pollution Rules Await Federal Approval in Washington State

"The state submitted its updated clean water rule for federal approval this week," reports Marissa Luck.

According to Luck, "the proposal regulates water pollution by measuring people’s risk of cancer from eating fish" and "would set stricter regulations for all businesses and government entities that deal with treating wastewater…"

The proposal is the result of four years of work by the state Department of Ecology in revising the state's water pollution regulations. "The highly politicized effort has been closely watched by industries, municipalities, tribal groups and environmentalists, and it landed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in court," according to Luck.

Now, however, the U.S. EPA will have up to 60 days to approve the proposed rule or 90 days to reject it.