Outstanding Waters or Outstanding National Resource Waters (ONRWs) are rivers, streams, lakes, and wetlands that receive special protections to preserve water quality and ensure future generations of Washingtonians have access to clean water. The protection afforded by Outstanding Waters designation respects the role of clean water as the lifeblood of our communities, ensuring that people from all walks of life can enjoy the benefits of clean water in our special places.
The Cascade, Green, and Napeequa Rivers were designated as Outstanding Waters in December 2023.
Yes, many states throughout the country have designated ONRWs. New Mexico, Colorado, and Oregon are Western states that have made recent designations. In addition, many states in the Midwest and East make ONRW designations regularly.
ORW designations focus on protecting special waters rather than restoring what we have lost. Ecology identifies and protects high-quality water bodies as an investment in clean water, fish, and wildlife habitat and other values. While the three nominated rivers are all protected in part, none is entirely protected against degradation in all the nominated reaches. And where the rivers already have some protections, ORW status provides additional insurance against degradation.
“Outstanding resource water” is the most protective designation under Washington’s antidegradation policy, a component of its water quality standards under the Clean Water Act. The authority under the Clean Water Act that provides for ORW designations: See federal law under 40 CFR 131.12, and Washington Administrative Code at 173-201A-330.
When a proposed activity might degrade a river’s water quality, an antidegradation policy provides a framework for regulators to weigh the activity’s pros and cons and to involve the public in the decision making. As the name implies, polluting activities are prohibited if they might cause a river that meets water quality standards to drop below those standards, except in limited situations such as fighting fire. It is important to note that an ORW designation only affects activities that would contribute new or increased pollution to a designated waterbody. A designation would not affect existing uses provided they do not add new or increased pollution. And, existing water rights would not be affected.
One or more conditions must apply for a water body to be eligible as an ORW:
The Department of Ecology can initiate an ORW designation, or a member of the public can request it. A member of the public would submit a written nomination showing how the water body meets one or more of the criteria for designation as an ORW. Ecology must respond to a nomination within 60 days with an initial determination of whether the water body meets the eligibility requirements. If the water is eligible, then Ecology will undertake a review of the nomination that includes both a public process and consultation with recognized tribes in the vicinity of the waterbody. Ecology must “carefully weigh the level of support from the public and affected governments.”
After determining a water body is eligible for designation as an ORW, it uses its rulemaking process as the public process for reviewing the nomination. This can be a standalone rulemaking, but for the Cascade River, Green River (Mount St. Helens), and Napeequa River nominations, Ecology is folding its rulemaking into a “Triennial Review.”
The Clean Water Act requires Ecology to update its surface water quality standards through a public process every three years–a Triennial Review. In 2021, this Triennial Review happened to coincide with our ORW nominations and that of Soap Lake. Since outstanding resource waters are part of the water quality standards, Ecology decided to include in its Triennial Review Work Plan the potential rulemaking to designate these ORWs. The Work Plan is the main product of the Triennial Review and will set priorities for rulemaking from 2022-2024.
The Work Plan was published as a draft for comment in July 2021.
Since the draft workplan was published, Ecology has taken all the required steps to publish a notice of proposed rule language during the summer or fall of 2023. The approximate remaining timeline is as follows:
Ecology pages on Triennial Review; antidegradation rules, including ORWs; and rulemaking process
Tier III(A) is the highest level of protection and prohibits any further degradation.
Tier III(B) is the second highest level of protection. It allows degradation that is “de minimis” (below measurable amounts) and comes from activities like stormwater or forestry that are well controlled and use “state of the art” best management practices.
Point sources – water quality permitting: For point sources—like pipes, boats, and industrial facilities—Ecology would implement the ORW designation through conditions in National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits and state waste-discharge permits.
Nonpoint sources: For nonpoint sources like runoff from roads, ORW designation would not affect activities that do not decrease the ORW’s water quality. But for activities that would contribute new or increased pollution, Ecology would require them to “eliminate or fully mitigate” their discharges (for Tier III(A)) or use best management practices to reduce degradation to “non-measurable levels” (for Tier III(B)). Ecology would use its discretion in bringing actions to enforce these requirements.
Ecology would also address nonpoint source pollution by providing technical assistance to government agencies—for example, in State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) comments or technical guidance for planning.
Water rights permitting: Ecology would also need to consider potential impacts on an ORW’s water quality when deciding whether to issue future water rights.
Land-use controls: An ORW designation does not give Ecology authority to make land-use decisions. That authority remains with local governments, tribes, federal agencies, and other state agencies. Those entities would need to ensure that their land use decisions and approvals do not degrade the water quality of ORWs. They could do so via their comprehensive planning process; alternatives analyses; and/or conditions on approvals and permits.
Restrictions on existing land uses: Antidegradation policies are designed to prevent increased degradation.
Existing water rights: An ORW designation will not affect existing water rights.
The ORW regulation provides several exceptions to its antidegradation protections, allowing:
(a) Temporary actions that are necessary to protect the public interest, as approved by Ecology. EPA has indicated that “temporary” means weeks or months, not years.
(b) Sewage, waste, and stormwater treatment works bypasses, but only where needed to prevent injury, loss of life, or severe property damage and there are no feasible alternatives.
(c) CERCLA or MTCA response actions to alleviate “imminent and substantial danger” to health or environment.
(d) Degradation from “atmospheric deposition.”
