PERMIT RATIONALE FOR REISSUANCE
Weyerhaeuser NR Company, Bruce Facility
Calhoun County
Bruce, Mississippi
Water NPDES No. MS0021962
October 22, 2025

I.	FACILITY INFORMATION

Facility Name:		Weyerhaeuser NR Company, Bruce Facility
Facility Address:	106 Railroad Street 
	Bruce, MS  38915    
Bruce,
Permit No.:		MS0021962
SIC:			2421
Permit Writer:		Rajeev Gupta 
EPD Branch:		Water II Branch

II.	NATURE OF BUSINESS

Weyerhaeuser is a sawmill facility that converts pine logs into dimensional lumber and wood chips.

III.	GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF WASTEWATER AND DISCHARGE FLOW

The facility has one outfall which they have applied to be permitted for.  Effluent from outfall 001 consists of log spray pond overflow from the facility’s log spray re-circulation pond.  Discharge from the pond is rainfall dependent. 

IV.	RECEIVING WATERS:	Unnamed tributary of the Skuna River
(7Q10 of unnamed tributary = 0 MGD)

IV.	TYPE OF WASTEWATER TREATMENT

The facility has a log spray re-circulation pond where water which is sprayed on the logs is recaptured and reused.  Sedimentation and settling occur in the log spray pond.  Discharge from the pond occurs only during a rainfall event.   

V.	303(d) and TOTAL MAXIMUM DAILY LOADS (TMDL) ISSUES

Skuna River, Waterbody ID 915413, appears on the 2024 303(d) list of impaired waters for recreation with the impairment being due to pathogens. The facility discharges their sanitary sewage to the City of Bruce sanitary sewer system.  The permit complies with the following TMDLs applicable to the stream segment:

•	Fecal Coliform TMDL for Yalobusha River Yazoo River Basin Grenada County, Mississippi (ID 903011704; January 2003).
•	Fecal Coliform TMDL for the Yazoo River Yazoo River Basin Carroll, Holmes, Leflore, and Warren Counties, Mississippi (ID 903063013; June 2003).
•	Nutrients and Organic Enrichment/ Low Dissolved Oxygen TMDL for the Yalobusha River Yazoo River Basin, Chickasaw and Calhoun Counties, Mississippi (ID 908050509; June 2008).
•	Total Nitrogen and Total Phosphorous TMDL for Selected Large Rivers in the Delta Yazoo River Basin (ID 908063054; June 2008).
•	Sediment TMDL for the Yalobusha River Yazoo River Basin (ID 903063012; June 2003).
•	Sediment TMDL for the Yazoo River Basin Hills Region (ID 908041701; April 2008).
•	Sediment TMDL for the Yazoo River Basin Hills Region (Final Report; Oct. 2020).
•	Sediment TMDL for the Yazoo River Basin Delta Region ( ID 908041702; April 2008).
•	Mercury TMDL for the Grenada Lake Watershed in the Yazoo River Basin (Proposed April 2008).
•	Legacy Pesticides DDT and Toxaphene TMDL in the Yazoo River Basin (ID 903051601; May 2003).
•	Legacy Pesticides, DDT and Toxaphene TMDL in the Yazoo River Basin (ID 905110401; November 2005).

VI.	EPA APPLICABLE CATEGORICAL GUIDELINES

40 CFR Part 429 – Timber Products Processing Point Source Category. 

Subpart I – Wet Storage Subcategory; Section 429.103 – There shall be no debris discharged and the pH shall be within the range of 6.0 to 9.0. Applicable to Outfall 002. 

Subpart K – Sawmills and Planing Mills Subcategory; Section 429.123(BAT) – There shall be no discharge of process wastewater pollutants from the timber products processing procedures that include all or part of the following operations: bark removal (other than hydraulic barking as defined in §429.11 of this part), sawing, resawing, edging, trimming, planing and machining into navigable waters.

VII.	DATA FROM APPLICATION FORM 2C

				Maximum		Number
Parameter		Daily Value		of Samples	
	BOD (5-Day)		4.5 ppm		1
	COD			130 ppm		1
	TOC			31 ppm		1
	TSS			<10 ppm		1
	Ammonia (as N)	0.24 ppm		1
	Flow			0.0303 MGD *	14
	pH			8.5 s.u.			13
	Oil and Grease		<5 ppm		1
	*Long Term Average		

VII.	PROPOSED PERMIT LIMITATIONS

Outfall 001

Parameter	Water Quality Limit	Current Permit Limit (CPL)	Proposed Permit Limit (PPL)	Basis	
	Average 	Maximum	Average 	Maximum 	Average 	Maximum 		
Flow	Report MGD	Report MGD	Report MGD	Report MGD	Report MGD	Report MGD	CPL	
pH	6.0 SU (min)	9.0 SU	6.0 SU (min)	9.0 SU	6.0 SU (min)	9.0 SU	MSWQS/CAT	

MSWQS = Mississippi Water Quality Standards
CAT = Categorical Standards

Flow shall be monitored instantaneously once per month. pH shall be monitored via grab sample once per month. 

There shall be no discharge of debris. Debris is defined as material such as bark, twigs, branches, heartwood, or sapwood that will not pass through a 2.54 cm (1-inch) diameter round opening. (40 CFR 129.103, 40 CFR 129.11)

Other than log storage recirculation pond overflow, there shall be no discharge of process wastewater pollutants from the timber products processing procedures that include all or part of the following operations: bark removal (other than hydraulic barking as defined in §429.11 of this part), sawing, resawing, edging, trimming, planing and machining into navigable waters. (40 CFR Part 429.120, 429.123)

The term "process wastewater" means any water which, during manufacturing or processing, comes into direct contact with or results from the production or use of any raw material, intermediate product, finished product, by-product or waste product. The term “process wastewater” specifically excludes non-contact cooling water, material storage yard runoff (either raw material or processed wood storage), boiler blowdown, and wastewater from washout of thermal oxidizers or catalytic oxidizers, wastewater from biofilters, or wastewater from wet electrostatic precipitators used upstream of thermal oxidizers or catalytic oxidizers installed by facilities covered by subparts B, C, D or M to comply with the national emissions standards for hazardous air pollutants (NESHAP) for plywood and composite wood products (PCWP) facilities (40 CFR part 63, subpart DDDD). For the dry process hardboard, veneer, finishing, particleboard, and sawmills and planing mills subcategories, fire control water is excluded from the definition. (40 CFR 122.2, 40 CFR 429.11)