Issue Profile
Waste Discharge License Fees (other than Overboard Discharge fees)

December 1998 (207)-287-3901

Background

Effective July 7, 1998, a new law makes major changes in the way fees are calculated and paid for all discharge licenses. Previously, payments were made at the time of application for a license issuance or renewal. The old fee system had been in place since about 1987 without any changes in the rates. Revision of the old fee system accomplishes two major goals. One - it puts most fees on an annualized basis, making financial management far more stable. Two –it enables the DEP to acquire the staff necessary to apply for delegation to run the federal licensing and compliance (NPDES) program.

Where does the money from fees go?

Fees cover a portion of the State’s costs of licensing, inspections, water quality assessments, and data management associated with wastewater discharges in Maine. In addition to fees, the water quality program is funded by grants under the federal Clean Water Act and the State's General Fund.

What are the major elements of the new fee system?

Bills will be sent annually to all waste discharge license holders and will cover license renewals, transfers and modifications. The bill may consist of three elements: a base fee applicable to all licenses; adjustments for multiple discharge points and water quality impacts for certain discharge sources; and discharge or license fees based on the amount of pollutants discharged or licensed to be discharged.

What is the base fee?

A base fee is charged to pay for basic administrative services associated with licensing, and inspecting and monitoring specific types of wastewater discharges. There are 22 base fee groups (see insert), and each license is "typed" according to the most significant or "primary" discharge activity. Each license will have only one base fee, no matter how many discharge points it may include.

What adjustments may be made and how do they work?

There are two possible adjustments to the base fee.

For licenses that authorize more than one discharge point, there is a flat "per pipe" charge for each additional discharge point in the license.
The other adjustment applies only to discharges of municipal and industrial process wastes to surface waters when the dilution factor is less than 1000 to 1 and the licensed flow is over 50,000 gallons per day. This adjustment results in a higher charge for facilities that have a low dilution, reflecting the extra effort required to monitor and assess water quality impacts in these more sensitive discharge locations.

Are all pollutants are subject to fees?

Several pollutants are not subject to fees. These include pH, residual chlorine, settleable solids, bacteria, whole effluent toxicity, color, and parameters without numeric license limits. Fees are charged for conventional and non-conventional pollutants. Conventional pollutants subject to fees include oxygen-demanding compounds, suspended or dissolved solids, and oil and grease. Non-conventional pollutants subject to fees include metals, nutrients and toxic compounds. Fees are also charged for heat and flow (where more appropriate than specific pollutant charges). For each pollutant, a fee will be charged at either a discharge rate or a license rate, but never both.

What is the discharge rate?

The discharge rate is a per-pound charge for each conventional and non-conventional pollutant actually discharged from most municipal and industrial process waste sources to surface waters. Bills are calculated using data from discharge monitoring reports. The larger a discharge is, the higher the annual fee will be.

What is the license rate?

The license rate is a unit rate for each parameter licensed to be discharged and applies to all pollutants and discharge groups not covered by the discharge rates. Bills are calculated using the waste discharge license limits. Discharges of heat in million BTU are always charged at the license rate. Alternately, several discharge groups are charged by licensed quantity of flow rather than for specific pollutants. For example, spray irrigation systems will be charged according to flow rather than pollutant loadings.

How are discharge and license rates figured?

As mentioned above, discharge and license fees for conventional and non-conventional pollutants rates are based on pounds per day discharged or licensed for discharge. The unit rates are fixed for conventional pollutants and variable for non-conventional pollutants. The rate for heat is based on million BTU's, and is calculated from the license limits. Flow rates use license limits in MGD or, in the case of non-municipal sanitary wastes, gallons per day.

How are "variable" rates for non-conventional pollutants calculated?

The rates for non-conventional pollutants vary according to the license concentration for the pollutant in question. The concept is to place a high per pound rate on pollutants that are more toxic or pose a greater threat to water quality. Mathematically, the rate is calculated by: dividing a constant dollar value established in the law by the license concentration in mg/L. The resulting value is then multiplied by the pounds of the pollutant discharged or licensed for discharge to determine the annual fee. Lower licensed concentrations result in higher rates, reflecting the greater risk for environmental impact for those pollutants.

Which license limits and data are used for calculating fees?

For discharge rates, the annual daily average taken from discharge monitoring reports will be used. This will be calculated by adding up the monthly average quantities for the year and dividing by the number of months the discharge took place. For license rates, the limits in the license itself will be used. If this information is not available in an individual license, the average limits or supplemental information from the licensing record will be used.

What if a license does not have limits compatible with the fee system?

Currently, not all waste discharge licenses follow the same format for expressing license limits. In order to maintain the maximum consistency and equity in billing, DEP will supplement the actual license limits with information from application forms and other records. If a concentration is needed to calculate rates, it will be back-calculated using licensed flows and quantities.

Is there a maximum fee?

Maximum fees apply to all discharge groups and point sources except the municipal and industrial process waste groups, where actual discharge quantities are generally used (see insert). If the point source is a "secondary" one, the maximum fee is one-half of the maximum fee set for that group as a "primary" point source.

How are Combined Sewer Overflows handled?

CSOs will be treated as a single parameter for the purposes of billing. The dry weather design capacity of the treatment facility serving the sewer system will be used to calculate fees. This will give an easily determined estimate of a sewer system's relative size and complexity. In situations where the treatment facility serves more than one community, the flow will be apportioned accordingly.

How and when will bills be sent?

Each year, every facility will receive one bill which will be sent based on the month in which its current license was issued. To smooth out billing over the year, DEP will be sending some of the bills out each quarter. Those facilities having licenses issued in January, February or March will be in the first billing quarter, and so on. Once the billing cycle is established, subsequent bills will be sent in the same quarters each year, irrespective of changes in license renewal dates.

What time period will be used to calculate bills?

Discharge or license information for the year ending December 31, 1997, will be used for the first rounds of billing. The second year's bills will use 1998, etc. If license limits change during the year, the limits that are representative of the majority of the year will be used.

What about new applications?

Regarding new applications, an estimated fee is due at the time the application is received for processing. When the application processing is complete, an adjustment will be made if necessary to reflect the final license limits. The fee paid will cover the first year of discharge under the new license. License rates will be used to calculate bills until there is enough data available to use discharge rates, if applicable.

What if the discharge license is inactive and there is no discharge activity?

If there are no discharges during an entire billing year, only the base fee and applicable water quality impact or multiple point source adjustments are due. There will be no charges using discharge or license rates for that year.

Is there any credit for fees paid under the old fee system?

To phase in the new fee system, DEP will be allowing limited credit for fees paid in the 5 years preceding adoption of this new structure. Credit will be given for whole years only, and will based upon the expiration date of the license that was current at the time the fee was paid, the old fee rate annualized for period from expiration through 1998, and the new rate that will apply in the future.

How can I get further information?

This general description will hopefully provide you with an overview of the new fee system's major elements. However, it cannot address all of the individual or unique situations or issues that arise in making the transition from one fee system to another. If you have questions, you are encouraged to discuss them with the DEP. As with most waste discharge license matters, you may contact your assigned facility inspector. Alternately, you may call DEP's Augusta Office at (207) 287-3901, asking for a staff person familiar with the NPDES fee system.

WASTE DISCHARGE LICENSE FEE RATES
FALL 1998

BASE FEE RATES AND MAXIMUM FEES FOR DISCHARGE GROUPS

DISCHARGE GROUP	Base Fee	Maximum as primary source	Maximum as second source
Publicly owned treatment facility, under 0.006 MGD	$60	$180	---
Publicly owned treatment facility, over 0.006 but less than 5 MGD	$175	---	---
Publicly owned treatment facility, over 5 MGD or significant industrial waste	$770	---	---
Major industrial process wastes	$1850	---	---
Other industrial process wastes	$630	---	---
Food handling or packing	$315	$2100	$1050
Fish rearing facility	$230	$1400	$700
Non contact cooling water	$90	$7000	$3500
Industrial or commercial non process wastes	$115	$2100	$1050
Combined sewer overflow	$115	$1400	---
Sanitary wastes, commercial source	$60	$1200	$600
Aquatic pesticide application	$200	---	---
Snow dump	$125	---	---
Salt and sand storage pile	$150	---	---
Log storage permit	$200	---	---

DISCHARGE AND LICENSE RATES

(Note that the first year (1998-9) rates are different from second and subsequent year rates)

First Year Rates	Second Year Rates
GROUP OR POLLUTANT		Units	Discharge	License	Discharge	License
Conventional pollutants		/ lb	$1.90	$1.00	$2.40	$1.25
Conventional pollutants (primary treatment)		/ lb	---	$0.45	---	$0.55
Conventional pollutants (food handling)		/ lb	---	$0.04	---	$0.05
Non conventional pollutants (as amount divided by the license concentration in mg/L)		/ lb	$16.80	$8.40	$21.00	$10.50
Heat ( as degrees F x flow x 8.34)		/ mbtu	---	$0.036	---	$0.045
Flow: fish rearing facilities		/ MGD	---	$36	---	$45
Flow: combined sewer overflow		/ MGD	---	$45	---	$55
Flow: industrial non process		/ MGD	---	$140	---	$175
Flow: publicly owned facilities		/ MGD	---	$500	---	$630
Flow: industrial process		/ MGD	---	$500	---	$630
Flow: treated storm water		/ MGD	---	$14	---	$17.50
Flow: commercial sanitary		/ GPD	---	$0.02	---	$0.02
Flow: residential sanitary		/ GPD	---	$0.02	---	$0.02
Flow: publicly owned <6000 gpd		/ GPD	---	$0.02	---	$0.02

OTHER RATES

Water Quality Adjustment: Base fee amount times 1.5 divided by the square root of the facility's dilution factor.

Multiple discharge points: $35 for each licensed point after the first one.

EXAMPLE FEE CALCULATIONS

EXAMPLE I Municipal Treatment Facility with Combined Sewer Overflows

Licensed Flow = 4.2 Million Gallon per Day Dilution Factor 17:1

Base Fee, regular municipal Water Quality Adjustment, as Base Fee x (1.5 / sqrt dilution)
                       $175 x 0.36 =Annual daily average discharge, conventional pollutants at a rate of $2.40 /lb
            Biochemical Oxygen Demand 117 lb/day
            Total Suspended Solids         101 lb/day
            TOTAL                                 218 lb/day x $2.40 /lb =Combined Sewer Overflow discharges, a rate of facility design flow x $55 / MGD
                                                                            4.2 MGD x $55 =

TOTAL FEE

$175
$64

$523
$231

$993

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EXAMPLE II Industrial Treatment Facility Process wastes and cooling water

Licensed Process Flow = 16.2 Million Gallons per Day Dilution Factor 130:1
License parameters: Biochemical Oxygen Demand, Total Suspended Solids, and Lead
Second discharge point: Cooling water, 19.3 MGD; License temperature, 110°F

Base Fee, major industrial

Water Quality Adjustment, as Base Fee x (1.5 / sqrt dilution)
              $1,850 x 0.13 = Annual daily average discharge, conventional pollutants at a rate of $2.40 /lb
             Biochemical Oxygen Demand                   2,378 lb/day
             Total Suspended Solids                           3,649 lb/day
                                                              TOTAL 6,027 lb/day x $2.40 /lb =

Annual daily average discharge, non-conventional pollutant at rate of $21 divided by license concentration (licensed concentration is 0.05 mg/L)
Lead 3.5 lb/day x $21 ÷ 0.05 mg/L =

Licensed quantity of heat, licensed at 19.3 MGD and 110°F at rate of $0.045 / MBTU
19.3 MGD x 110°F x 8.34 x $0.045 / million BTU =

Additional Discharge Point, at $35 per point after first
1 additional discharge point x $35 =

$1,850

$240

$14,465

$1,470

$797

$35