NATIONAL POLLUTANT DISCHARGE ELIMINATION SYSTEM (NPDES)
STORM WATER IMPLEMENTATION PACKAGE
PROPOSED RULE AND DRAFT GENERAL PERMITS
A SUMMARY
United States Environmental Protection Agency
July, 1991
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I. BACKGROUND
The 1972 amendments to the Federal Water Pollution Control
Act (FWPCA, also referred to as the Clean Water Act or CWA),
prohibited the discharge of any pollutant to navigable waters
from a point source unless the discharge is authorized by a
National Pollutant Discharge E1imination System (NPDES) permit.
Efforts to improve water quality under the NPDES program have’
focused traditionally on reducing pollutants in discharges of
industrial process waste water and from municipal sewage
treatment plants. Efforts to address storm water discharges
under the NPDES program have focussed’ primarily on discharges
from ten industry categories with effluent limitations for storm
water.
In response to the lack of comprehensive NPDES requirements
for storm water discharges via point sources, Congress amended
the CWA in 1987 to require the Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) to establish phased NPDES requirements for storm water
discharges. In response to these requirements, EPA published
initial permit application requirements for storm water
discharges associated with industrial activity, ‘and discharges
from municipal separate storm sewer systems serving a population
of 100,000 or more on November 16, 1990 (55 FR 47990)
The rulemaking defined the term “storm water discharge
associated with industrial activity” in a comprehensive manner to
address storm water discharges from eleven classes of facilities.
In addition, the rulemaking ‘established individual and group
application requirements for these discharges.
Addressing storm water discharges associated with industrial
activity under the NPDES program significantly expanded the scope
of the NPDES program. EPA has developed the NPDES storm water
implementation package to address a number of’issues associated
with the implementation of the NPDES requirements for storm water
discharges associated with industrial activity.
II. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
Pollutants in storm water discharges from many sources are
largely uncontrolled. The “National Water Quality Inventory,
1988 Report to Congress” provides a general assessment of water
‘quality based on biennial reports submitted by ‘the States under
Section 3,05(b) of the Clean Water Act. The Report indicates that
of the rivers, lakes, and estuaries that were assessed by States
(approximately one-fifth of stream miles, one-third of lake acres
and one-half of esturine waters), roughly 70 to 75% are
supporting the uses for which they are, designated. The
Assessment concludes that diffuse sources of pollution appear to
be increasingly important contributors of use impairment as
discharges of industrial process wastewaters and municipal sewage
plants come increasingly under control and intensified data
collection effOrts provide additional information.’
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In developing the National Water Quality Inventory, the
States identified a number of major sources of pollution,
including, separate storm sewers, construction, waste disposal,
and resource extraction, which correlate well with categories of
facilities addressed by the regulatory definition of “storm water
discharge assdciated with industrial activity”.
III. SUMMARY OF THE PROPOSAL
The NPDES storm water implementation notice addresses a
number of issues associated with the implementation of permit
requirements for storm water discharges associated with
industrial activity. The implementation notice requests public
comment on four major areas:
1) Guidelines for a preliminary permitting strategy for storm
water discharges associated with industrial activity;
2) Proposed regulatory modifications addressing, annual
monitoring requirements for storm water discharges
associated with industrial activity;
3) Proposed regulatory modificatidns addressing notice of
intent requirements for general permits; and
4) Draft baseline general permits for storm water discharges
associated with industrial activity in the 12 States and 6
territories which do not have authorized State NPDES
programs and 20 additional States for storm water discharges
from Indian Tribes or Federal facilities.
IV. STRATEGY FOR PERMIT ISSUANCE
EPA is developing a flexible strategy for issuing permits
• for storm water.discharges associated with industrial activity.
The Strategy establishes two major components, a framework for
developing permitting priorities and a framework for the
development of State Storm Water Permitting Plans.
The Agency believes that most permitting. activities for
storm water discharges associated with industrial activity can be
described in terms of the following four classes of activities:
o 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;
o Tier II — Watershed Permitting: , Facilities within watersheds
shown to be adversely impacted by storm water discharges
associated with industrial activity will be targeted for
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individual or watershed—specific general permits.
o Tier III — Industry-Specific Permitting : Specific industry
categories will be targeted for individual or industry-
specific general permits; and
o Tier IV - Facility-Specific Permitting : A variety of factors
will be used to target specific facilities for individual
permits.
These four classes of activities will be implemented over
time and will reflect priorities within given States. In most
States, Tier I activities, issuance of baseline permits, will be
the initial starting point. As priorities and risks within the
State are evaluated, classes of storm water discharges or
individual storm water discharges will be identified for Tier II,
III or IV permitting activities.
The long-term permitting strategy also provides guidance for
the development of State storm water permitting plans. These
plans will serve as a. mechanism to provide public participation
and ensure appropriate implementation of storm water permitting
activities within the various States.
Re1ationshi Between Municipalities and Permit Issuing Agencies
- EPA anticipates that a large percentage of storm water
discharges associated with industrial activity discharge through
municipal separate storm sewer systems. The Agency is in the
process of initiating permit issuance efforts for discharges from
municipal separate storm sewer systems serving a population of
100,000 or more. These permit issuance efforts will ensure
municipal cooperation in efforts to control pollutants discharged
through these municipal separate storm sewer systems.
The implementation notice clarifies EPA policy on the
development of. complementary control strategies for storm water
discharges associated with industrial activity between operators
of municipal separate storm sewer systems and permit issuing
Agencies. The Agency intends to coordinate requirements in
permits •for storm water discharges associated with industrial
activity with efforts to develop municipal storm water management
programs in permits for discharges from municipal .separate storm
sewer systems serving àpopulation of. 100,000 or more. Under
this coordinated effort, municipal permittees will have a major
role in implementing programs to control pollutants from storm
water associated with industrial activity which discharges
through their municipal separate storm. sewer.
• - - V. DISCHARGE MONITORING REPORTS -
The existing NPDES regulationsat 40 CFR 122.44(i) (2)
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provide that requirements in permits to report monitoring results
are to be established on a case—by—case basis to ensure
compliance with permit limitations, but that the requirements to
report monitoring results should.in no case be less than once a
year.
The draft proposal requests comments on six options for
addressing this issue ranging from retaining the minimum
requirement of annual submittal of discharge monitoring reports
to providing for case—by-case monitoring conditions with no
minimum requirement to monitor or report. The draft proposal
favors amending the regulation to provide, at a minimum, that
permits for storm water discharges require annual sampling
(without reporting) which would be retained by the discharger
unless the information was requested in a permit or by the
Director. Under the option favored in proposal, permits for
storm water discharges from oil and gas operations must either
require annual sampling (without reporting) or, in lieu of.
sampling, a Professional Engineer’s, certification attesting that
good engineering practices were being employed to meet
appropriate permit conditions.
VI. NOTICE OF INTENT REQUIREMENTS
EPA anticipates that general permits will play an important
role in efforts to issue permits for storm water discharges
associated with industrial activity. In addition, general
permits provide a valuable tool for permitting many other classes
of non—storm water discharges.
The NPDES regulations exclude persons covered by general
permits from requirements to submit individual permit
applications. Currently, conditions for notification of intent
(NOl) to be covered by a general permit are established in
permits on a.case—by—case basis. . To encourage the use of general
permits and to ensure that general permits provide the
appropriate programmatic framework, the Agency is proposing to
modify the regulatory framework for general permits to provide
minimum requirements for notices of intent to be covered by
general permits. The notice also requests comments on whether it
would be appropriate to exclude certain classes of storm water
discharges from NOl requirements, such as those from oil and gas
operations.
Under the proposed regulatory. change, the minimum
requirements for notice of intent include: the legal name and
address of the owner or operator; the facility name and address;
type of facilities or discharges; the receiving stream(s); and
such other information as is reasonably necessary to ascertain
whether the discharger (or treatment works treating domestic
sewage) should be included under the terms of the general permit
as specified in the final general permit.
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VII. DRAFT GENERAL PERMITS
The storm water implementation package also provides notice
for draft general permits for storm water discharges associated
with industrial activity in 12 States (MA, ME, NH, FL, LA, TX,
OK, NM, SD, AZ, AK, ID), and six Territories (District of
Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa,
the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Trust
Territory of the Pacific Islands) without authorized NPDES State
programs; on Indian lands inAL, CA, GA, KY, MI, MN, MS, MT , NC,
ND, NY, NV, SC, TN, UT, WI, and WY; located within federal
facilities and Indian lands in CO and WA; and located within
federal facilities in Delaware.
Major components of the draft general permits for storm
water discharges associated with industrial activity include:
•o Notice of Intent (NOl) requirements
o Prohibitions;
o Requirements to develop and implement storm water pollution
prevention plans;
o Effluent limitations for two classes of discharges; and
o Monitoring requirements. -.
Dischargers which submit an NOl to be covered by the general
permit are generally not required to submit an individual permit
application or participate in a group application. The burdens
to dischargers of submitting an NOl are significantly less than
the burdens associated with submitting an individual application
or participating in a group application. The NOl requirements
of the genera.l permit only address general information and do not
require the collection of monitoring data. EPA intends to have
NOIs associated with permits in a number of Regions and
authorized NPDES States sent to a centralized address. Optical
character readers will be used to process the NOIs. Lists of
• facilities covered under a general permit will then be provided
to each Region and State for tracking and enforcement purposes.
This will greatly reduce the administrative burdens on Regions.
and States. • •
The general permit prohibits the discharge of storm water
which is mixed with a source of non—storm water where the non-
•storm water discharge is not otherwise authorized by a different
NPDES permit. The draft general permit also prohibits discharges
that contain a hazardous substance in excess of reporting
quantities established at 40 CFR 117.3 or 40 CFR 302.4. Both
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classes of discharges which are not authorized by this general
permit are more appropriately covered by individual permits or
other general permits.
The draft general permit contains effluent limitations for
two classes of discharges, coal pile runoff and for storm water
associated with industrial activity that comes into contact with
any equipment, tank, container, or other vessel used for Section
313 water priority chemicals; and for truck and rail car loading
and unloading areas for liquid Section 313 water priority
chemicals at SARA Title III, Section 313 facilities.
All facilities covered by the general permit must prepare
and implement a storm water pollution prevention plan. The
permit addresses tiered sets of pollution prevention plan
requirements for a number of categories of industries:
construction activities; baseline requirements for all industries
except construction activities; special requirements for storm
water discharges associated with industrial activity to large and
medium municipal separate storm sewer systems; and special
requirements for facilities with outdoor salt storage piles. In
addition, comments are requested on two options for special
requirements for certain facilities subject to SARA Title III,
Section 313. Under Option A, SARA Title III, Section 313
facilities with storm water associated with industrial activity
that comes into contact with any equipment, tank, container, or
other vessel used for Section 313 water priority chemicals; and
for truck and rail car loading and unloading areas for liquid
Section 313 water priority chemicals at SARA Title III, Section
313 facili-ties would be subject to special spill prevention and
containment requirements and an effluent limitation. Under
Option B, such facilities would remain subject to’ the effluent
limitation, but would not be subject to special spill prevention
and containment requirements.
• Most dischargers covered by the permit must conduct annual
monitoring of eight conventional parameters. Facilities subject
to these ‘baseline’ monitoring, requirements are subject, to record
keepIng requirements, but generally are not required to report
monitoring data to. EPA. Industry specific semi-annual monitoring
and reporting requirements are established for storm water
discharges associated with industrial activity from six classes
of industries: SARA Title III, Section 313 facilities; primary
metal facilities; land disposal units; wood treatment facilities
(wood preservers) using chlorophenolic/creosote formulations;
wood treatment facilities (wood preservers) using
arsenic/chromium preservatives; and coal pile runoff. Operators’
of ‘contaminated storm ‘water discharges associated with industrial
activity from oil and gas exploration and production operations
and from inactive mining operations where a past or present •.mine
operator cannot be identified have the option of either
monitoring their storm water discharges associated.with
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industrial activity annually or, in lieu of the monitoring, a
facility may have a Registered Professional Engineer certify that
a storm water pollution plan has been prepared and is being
implemented in accordance with the requirements of the permit.
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