This bill creates a new law by adding five new sections to chapter 90.48 RCW that require the department to improve public notice of untreated or undertreated sewage discharges. It is a procedural change establishing requirements for a public-facing website, an opt-in public notification system, and annual public reporting; it does not in the extracted facts create new crimes or specify penalties. Key requirements include deadlines and content: by July 1, 2026 the department must develop and publish a public website listing locations of sewage spills reported under individual water quality permits and must post reported information including estimated and final volumes, level of treatment, start date/time, location, when the discharge ceased, geographic area potentially impacted, and containment steps. After a reported spill concludes the department must update the site with final spill information. The website must be designed to communicate effectively with people who have limited English proficiency. By July 1, 2027 the department must implement an opt-in notification system so the public can choose to receive notices; notifications must be sent no later than four hours after the department receives notice of a sewage spill during regular working business hours and must reflect or link to the website information. By March 15, 2026 the department must publish a list of spills reported during the prior calendar year, and by March 15, 2027 and each March 15 thereafter it must publish an annual report listing the prior year’s spills, waters impacted, duration, volume, and any action taken. The act includes definitions for combined sewer, sewage spill, and sewage treatment plant or collection system, and defines regular working business hours as 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding state legal holidays. The extracted text does not explicitly restate which agency is the “department” within sections 2–5 (Sec. 1 refers to the Department of Ecology), does not specify how the public will opt in or by what channels, does not define “within a reasonable amount of time” for post‑spill updates, and does not describe enforcement mechanisms, penalties, or full scope of which dischargers or permits trigger the posting and notifications.

If enacted, the Department of Ecology will need to build and run a public website and an opt-in notification system so sewage spills reported under individual water quality permits are posted and the public can be alerted quickly; this creates new, ongoing work for the department including technical, translation, and communications tasks and likely requires new staff time or funding to meet the deadlines and maintain timely updates. Municipal wastewater treatment plant owners and wastewater collectors who report spills will face greater public visibility and faster public awareness of incidents (including estimated volumes, treatment level, location, waters impacted, duration, and response actions), which raises reputational risk and could increase public and regulatory scrutiny of their operations and responses. The public—especially people who fish, harvest shellfish, recreate, or rely on cultural uses of water, and those with limited English proficiency—will likely gain faster, clearer access to spill information and annual summaries, improving their ability to avoid impacted areas. Important implementation details remain unclear from the text provided: the exact agency reference in the new sections, which permit holders trigger postings, how people will opt in to notifications, what constitutes updating “within a reasonable amount of time” after a spill ends, and whether extra funding or enforcement mechanisms will be supplied.