UnrtexJ States Offce Of Water EPA I833-F-94-006
Environmental Protection (4203) September 1994
Agency
Storm Water
Fact Sheet
EsrrirouieataJ ^m ... L u ^
While water pollution control measures ia the US for industrial process wajtewtter and mnnidpa! sewage have had major
success, urban and agrtoiltmral renoff continue to contribute to our Nation's remaining water qmality problems. A report
entitled: Tie National W** frilly Inventory, 1992 Report to Congress, provide* a national assessment of surface water impacts
associated with ranoff from varioui land ues. The latest report concludes that norm water ranoff from a number of diffuse
sources, Including municipal separate storm sewers and nrban nnoff to a leading cause of water quality impairment cited
by States.
Storm water ranoff from *rba»tod areas and industrial aid commercial activities can contain high levels of contaminants,
such as sediment, suspended solids, nutrients, heavy metals, pathogens, toxics, and oxygen demanding substances. [JTie Results
of the Nationwide Urban Runoff Progrmm; EPA, 1983)J
38 States have reported urban ranoff as a major cause of use impairment; 21 States report construction site runoff as a major
cause of use impairment; storm water has contributed to the Impairment of approximately one quarter of the lakes and
estuaries assessed by States and found to be impaired. [America's Cleat Water: J*e States' Nonpoint Source Assessment-,
ASIWPCA Study, 19*5]
Shellfish harvesting b limited in numerous areas of the Gulf, East, and West Coasts due to urban ranoft Gulf Coast -1,000,000
acres, West Coast-130,000 acres, East Coast-600,000 acres are limited, \Tke Quality of Shellfish Growing Waters on the East
Coast, West Coast, and Gulf of Mexico-, NOAA, 19SS-1990J
Statutory ProvWow: Th* Ck*a Water Acft-Sectfoei 4t2(p) (As
Establishes 2-Phase Storm Water Program
Phase I - Permits required for Urge (over 250,000 pop, served) and medium (100,000-250,000 pop. served) municipal separate
storm sewer systems and storm water discharges "associated with industrial activity". Surface Transportation Act of 1991
placed industrial activities conducted by municipalities of less than 100,000 population into Phase O with three exceptions:
power plants, airports, and uncontrolled sanitary landfills.
Phase D - EPA to assess matining storm water discharges, establish procedures and methods to control storm water
contamination to extent aeceiary to Mitigate impacts on water quality. The Water Resources Development Act of 1992
required Phase II storm water regulations by October 1, 1993. Phase D discharges required to submit applications after
October 1, 1994.
Regmlatory Actfee* for Pkaae L , ,..,,.
Final rule published 11/16V90 as amended established scope of program: defined "storm water discharge associated with
industrial activity" identified 220 large and medium storm sewer systems, and established permit application requirements.
On May 27 and June 24, 1992, the United States Court of Appeab for the Ninth Circuit, issued two opinions generally
affirming EPA's November 16, 1990 storm water application regulations. Specifically, the Ninth Circuit upheld EPA's
definition of "municipal separate storm sewer system", the standards for municipal storm water controls, the scope of the
permit exemption for oil and gas operations, and EPA's decision not to provide public comment on Part I group industrial
permit applications, la "American Mining Congress", the Court apheld EPA's regulation of storm water discharges from
4nactive mines. (AMC v. EPA. 965 F.2d 759 (9th Cir. i*»V"AMT"lNat»ral Resources Defense Council v. EPAt 966 F. 2d 1292
.(9th Cir. 1992X"NRDC").
" Clean Water... A Better Environment"
Office of Wastowater Management (OWM)
Printed on Recycled Paper
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In response court ruling in NRDC v. EPA (9th Cir., 1992) a final regulation on 12/18/92 established generally applicable permit
issuance deadlines as follows: 1) permits issuance deadline for industrial discharges: one year after submission of a complete
application or October 1,1993; and 2) permit issuance deadline for large and medium municipal separate storm sewer systems:
one year after submission ef a complete application or November 16,1993 and May 17,1994 respectively. In addition, the court
clarified that the regulation of construction activities disturbing less than 5 acres; and light industry without exposure to storm
water will be reserved pending further rulemaking.
Scope of Udutrial Profnm:
EPA finalized general permits for construction and industrial activities in 11 States without NPDES authorization
(September 9, 1992, September 25, 1992 and April 14, 1993 respectively).
39 authorized NPDES States can issue general permits. For storm water, 35 States have at least one final general permit;
1 State has proposed draft general permits; and 2 States have staff level draft general permits as of January 1994.
As of July 1994, approximately 24,000 facilities are covered under EPA Industrial and Construction General Permits for use
in non-authorized States.
As of January 1994, approximately 65,500 facilities are covered under general permits issued by authorized NPDES States.
Proposed Multi-Sector Industrial Storm Water General Permit:
To provide flexibility for the regulated community in acquiring a storm water discharge permit, EPA developed three permit
application options. Industries could submit an individual application, a group application, or a notice of intent for a
general permit Under the group application process, similar industrial facilities were allowed to group together and submit
a single application for the development of a model storm water discharge permit
Using the group application information, EPA developed an industry-specific multi-sector storm water general permit Group
application information included descriptions of industrial activities, materials stored outdoors, best management practices
and storm water sampling data. To develop the multi-sector permit, EPA divided the 44,000 facilities into 29 industrial sectors
based on similar industrial activities. EPA incorporated the permit requirements for all 29 sectors into a single, storm water
general permit
The draft permit was public noticed in the Federal Register on November 19, 1993. The 90-day comment period ended on
February 17, 1994. Approximately 3,000 pages of comments were received. EPA is now working to address those comments
and issue a final permit in the fall of 1994.
Long-term Strategy - risk based approach to deal with identified water quality problems and support watershed initiatives.
The strategy consists of a four tiered framework.
Tier I - Baseline Permitting: One or more general permits will be developed to initially cover the majority of storm water
discharges associated with industrial activity.
Tier II - Watershed Permitting: Facilities within watersheds shown to be adversely impacted by storm water discharges
associated with industrial activity will be targeted for individual or watershed-specific permits.
Tier III - Industry-Specific Permitting: Specific categories will be targeted for individual or industry-specific general permits.
Tier IV - Facility Specific Permitting: A variety of factors will be used to target specific facilities for individual permits.
Scope of Municipal Prograai:
EPA originally identified 220 large and medium municipalities whose populations exceed 100,000 according to the Bureau of
Census.
Approximately 829 municipal entities are participating in Phase I of the storm water program.
Over 42 additional large and medium MS4s were identified by the 1990 census.
Approximately 3d MS4s were excluded from the program because of combined sewers.
Over 597 additional MS4s were added through the designation process, because of jurisdictional agreements among municipal
entities, and because of the inclusion of "special districts" such as departments of transportation, flood control districts, and
universities.
EPA estimates that a total of approximately 275 municipal permits will eventually be issued (approximately 183 permits to
be issued to individual municipalities of which an estimated 92 permits are expected to be issued to municipalities that have
co-permittees.
Approximately 71 final permits have been issued to MS4s as of August 1994.
Pkaae D Prograai DeveJopaieat:
- EPA is preparing a report to Congress identifying remaining discharges for the Phase II program. This report summarizes
recommendations on how best to address these additional Phase II storm water sources.
Recommendations qji how best to control Phase TI discharges are discussed in detail in the Administration's position on CWA
reauthorization for storm water entitled: President Clinton's Clean Water Initiative, published in February, 1994.
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