Regulations dealing with antidegradation implementation methods for wastewater discharges were adopted by the Department of Environmental Conservation on February 28, 2018, with an effective date of April 6, 2018. The regulations have been made permanent and have been filed by the Lt. Governor. The regulations will appear in Register 226, July 2018, of the Alaska Administrative Code. The regulations changes are summarized as follows:

The changes to the Water Quality Standards regulations added a new section, 18 AAC 70.016, describing implementation methods for the antidegradation policy regulations at 18 AAC 70.015. The revisions establish antidegradation implementation methods for wastewater discharges to waters of the U.S. in the State of Alaska consistent with the Clean Water Act and the Code of Federal Regulations. The antidegradation requirement is primarily designed to require states to look carefully during the wastewater discharge permitting process when authorizing a discharge of pollutants that will lower water quality.

The following sections were amended:

18 AAC 70.015, 18 AAC 70.990

The following new section was added:

18 AAC 70.016