Services
Provided by United
Consulting
Compliance with NPDES permits
requires a broad and diverse array of scientific and engineering
expertise. United consulting provides a full range of services
for NPDES permit compliance in all aspects of stormwater
management including:
- Municipal program
development
- Stormwater pollution
prevention plans
- Lead-permittee and
multi-permittee coordination systems
- Permitte compliance
tracking and reporting
- Watershed management
- Wet and dry weather
monitoring
- Regional, local, and
site-specific planning
- Water quality modeling and
analysis
- GIS mapping and integrated
databases
- Stormwater management
retrofitting
- BMP design,
implementation, and evaluation
- Hydrology and hydraulics
- Numeric sizing programs
and designs
- On site monitoring,
testing, and reporting
- Storm sewer system
inventory
- Industrial/commercial
stormwater inspection
- Provide recommendations
for maintenance, repair, or replacement of stormwater
structures
- Compliance and enforcement
training
- Assist with public
education and outreach
- Assist with public
participation and involvement
Overview
On
December 8, 1999, the United States Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) published the stormwater Phase II final rule in the Federal Register. The issuance of the rule started a
clock that has municipalities, the industry, and stormwater
professionals racing to understand and evaluate its implication.
The Phase II rule is an extension of the National Pollutant
Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) stormwater program. The Phase I rule was issued in 1990 and covered medium and
large Municipal Separate Stormwater Systems (MS4s) - cities or
jurisdictional entities serving populations over 100,000. In
addition, operators of construction activities disturbing more
that 5 acres and 11 categories of industrial activities were
required to obtain permit coverage under Phase I.
Phase II will extend NPDES stormwater permit requirements
to small MS4s and construction activities disturbing more than 1
acre. Unlike the Phase I monitoring requirements, the Phase II
rule has taken a more flexible approach. Those municipalities
regulated under Phase II will not have to establish pollutant
characterization of stormwater quality by conducting analytical
testing. The implementation of stormwater discharge management
practices, or Best management practices (BMP), will likely be
sufficient in order to meet compliance with the 6 minimum
measure requirements of Phase II.
The
Phase II stormwater rule will automatically cover operators of
MS4s who are located within an "urbanized area" that has a total
population of 50,000 or more and a density of 1,000 persons per
square mile. These urbanized areas usually include several
different jurisdictions and are based on US census counts.
A "municipality"
is defined by the rule to include not only what is traditionally
thought of as a municipality, such as cities, towns, and
villages, but also federal installations and military bases,
Native American lands, state agencies, and counties. The
definition also includes state-owned or operated departments of
transportation, universities, hospitals, and even local
drainage, sewer, or water conservation districts that might
operate separate storm sewer systems.
In
addition, the definition of what constitutes a "separate storm
sewer system" includes any method of conveying surface water,
including streets, gutters, ditches, swales, or any other
manmade structure that alters and/or directs wet-weather flows.
Thus, the impact of the Phase II rule will be far-reaching.
Along with the automatically designated MS4s, the Phase II rule
also requires the NPDES Permitting Authority to establish
criteria for including at a minimum those MS4s located in
population areas of at least 10,000 if it determines that
wet-weather flow discharges could cause an adverse impact on the
quality of receiving waters. Permitting authorities may also
include municipalities as designated MS4s with populations as
low as 1,000.
Finally, MS4 operators with populations of fewer than 1,000
outside of automatic and designated areas may also need
stormwater permits for discharge if permitting authorities
determine that the MS4 is contributing substantially to
pollutant loading of a physically interconnected and regulated
MS4. Municipal Permit Requirements
A
municipality's individual permit application or notice of intent
for coverage under a general permit must include descriptions of
the BMP's, as well as their respective measurable goals that
will be used to meet the following 6 minimum measures.
-
Public Education and Outreach. This measure must
include a program designed to educate the public about
impacts of stormwater discharges on receiving waters and
what individuals can do to prevent stormwater pollution.
-
Public Participation and Involvement. This measure
must include a procedure for giving the public an
opportunity to actually participate in both the development
and implementation of a stormwater program.
-
Illicit Discharge Detection and Elimination.
Regulated municipalities must develop a plan with mechanisms
designed to locate and eliminate discharges into storm
sewers from sources other than stormwater. This plan must
include a complete map of all outfalls and identification of
locations and sources of any water entering a system.
-
Construction-Site Runoff Control. Regulated
municipalities must have a regulatory mechanism in place for
erosion and sediment control, as well as BMPs for preventing
or reducing other pollutants associated with construction
activity. It is important to note that this measure does not
relieve the requirements of a construction site operator to
obtain an independent NPDES permit for sites larger than 1
acre. The permitting authority, can specifically reference
qualifying local programs in the NPDES general permit
requirements so the construction operator doesn't need to
follow 2 different sets of requirements.
-
Post Construction Runoff Controls. Regulated
municipalities must have a program requiring new and
redevelopment projects to implement controls on site, which
will reduce pollutant loads in stormwater runoff.
-
Pollution Prevention and Good Housekeeping. Regulated
municipalities must have an operation and maintenance
program to prevent or reduce pollutant runoff from municipal
operations.
While the above six measures are the minimum required by EPA,
the rule allows for states with NPDES permitting authority to
develop permits that may require more stringent measures to meet
water quality requirements. In addition, municipalities may also
develop stormwater regulations that go beyond the requirements
of Phase II.
The Phase II rule is drafted to encourage development of a
stormwater control plan that fits local conditions and allows
flexibility by local authorities to meet their individual needs.
Those MS4s that wait until the last minute, are likely to face
prescriptive requirements that will not take into account local
conditions. Therefore, officials, planners, and stormwater
professionals need to start the planning process now.
Industrial Impact
In addition to changes noted above for municipal and
construction activities, Phase II will also impact Phase I
regulated industrial activities in two ways. Under Phase II all
industrial activities will now be eligible for no-exposure
waivers instead of only light industries defined in Category 11.
However, Category 11 industries will now need to file waivers to
obtain permits. Under Phase I, Category 11 industries with
no-exposure did not need to file these waivers.
BMP
Selection
Since Phase II is a narrative
rule that only requires the implementation of BMPs to achieve
compliance, selection of the proper mix of BMPs appropriate to
the municipality becomes critical. The Phase II rule requires
that EPA and permitting authorities issue BMP menus for each
minimum measure to assist MS4s in developing the stormwater
management program BMP "toolbox." These menus will include both
structural and nonstructural BMPs.
Nonstructural may include:
- Educational materials
- School stormwater programs
- Public meetings and
citizen groups
- Volunteer cleanups,
monitoring programs, and Adopt-A-Storm-Drain programs
- Illicit discharge
detection programs
- Regulatory ordinances and
other regulatory mechanisms, including:
- Prohibitions on nonstorm
discharges into separate storm sewer,
- Requirements for control
of erosion, sediment, and other pollutants on construction
sites,
- Site-plan approval
processes requiring post construction stormwater controls
- Requirements for
installation of controls at existing sites that are likely
sources of pollutant runoff
- BMP operation and
maintenance requirements with regulatory enforcement
provisions
- Procedures for inspecting
and monitoring structural BMPs
- Street sweeping, catch
basin cleaning, and organic yard waste controls
- Training materials and
municipal maintenance activities and schedules
- Recycling and pollution
prevention programs
Structural BMPs may include:
- Vegetative BMPs such as
constructed wetlands, swales, filter strips, and rain
gardens
- Infiltration BMPs (with
pretreatment, where necessary, for groundwater and wellhead
protection) such as basins, trenches, dry wells, sand
filters, and porous pavement
- Detention and retention
methods for controlling both volume and quality of water
flow into MS4s and receiving waters
- Treatment controls such as
separators, filtration devices, catch basin inserts, and
skimmers
- Outfall and drain grates
Conclusion
With the approaching storm of
Phase II, there is a sense of apprehension among municipalities
with MS4s that are trying to understand and deal with numerous
new issues and mandates. It is clear that the days when
stormwater management only "move the water" are over. Yet, by
carefully planning in advance, municipalities and others
affected by the NPDES Phase II stormwater regulations, such as
construction site operators, will be able to promote the
long-term quality of local water resources and substantially
reduce the costs of implementation and compliance.
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