Page 45 - Highway Engineering Handbook Building and Rehabilitating the Infrastructure

28 CHAPTER ONE

may be combined into a single permit. The regulations allow the state transportation
agency to be named as a copermittee in a systemwide permit, or to be named in a separate
municipal permit. (E. M. Jennings, “Coverage of State Highways under Municipal Storm
Water Permits,” Memorandum, Office of Chief Counsel, California State Water Resources
Control Board, Sacramento, November 2, 1992, p. 31.)
Storm water systems owned by state highway departments in low-population areas
(under 100,000) are not required to be permitted. Appendixes to Part 122 indicate the incor-
porated areas and unincorporated counties in the United States with sufficient population
to require municipal storm water permits. This information is shown in Table 1.10.
Application requirements for a group permit for discharges from large and medium
municipal storm sewers fall into two parts. Also, an annual report must be submitted, as dis-
cussed later.
Storm Water Permits for Construction. EPA in 1990 established final regulations for
controlling storm water runoff from specific categories of industries and activities (40 CFR
122, 123, and 124). Any discharger of, or person who proposes to discharge, a waste other
than to a sewer system, or changes the character of a current discharge, is required to report
this activity to the local enforcement agency (Dufour, op. cit., p. 75). Once reported, the
agency will evaluate the discharge and may
• Issue waste discharge requirements.
• Waive discharge requirements for insignificant discharges such as well testing or con-
struction dewatering (no waiver is permitted if the discharge is to surface waters).
• Prohibit the discharge if sufficiently protective discharge requirements cannot be met by
the discharger.
Discharge requirements are issued through an NPDES permit that specifies conditions
the discharger must meet. The conditions are based on the established water quality objec-
tives and the capacity of the existing storm water drainage system or receiving waters to
assimilate the discharge. Discharge limitations are usually expressed as a combination of
quantitative and procedural specifications. CWA provides for three types of NPDES per-
mits: individual, group, and general. Issuance of waste discharge requirements must be
noticed for public comment and approved at a hearing of the local authority (Ibid., p. 74).
The primary industrial category in the regulation relevant to building and maintaining
highways is “construction activities.” Construction activities, in this context, include
clearing, grading, and excavating that result in the disturbance of 5 acres or more of land
that is not part of a larger (nonhighway) construction project. Construction sites were tar-
geted because studies showed that the runoff from construction sites has high potential
for serious water quality impacts. Sediment runoff from construction sites may be 10 to
20 times that from agricultural lands. Non-point-source pollutants from construction
sites include sediment, metals, oil and grease, nitrates, phosphates, and pesticides.
To obtain an NPDES construction permit, a notice of intent must first be filed request-
ing permit coverage at least 48 hours before construction begins. The NOI contains the
following information:
1. Owner of the site (legal name and address) and contact person’s name, title, and tele-
phone number. This entity must have control over construction plans and specifications,
the ability to make changes, and day-to-day operational control.
2. Construction site information—whether the construction is part of a larger project or the
portion of the site that is impervious both before and after construction activities. Site
location must be provided as latitude and longitude. Indicate whether endangered or
threatened species or designated critical habitats are present, as well as whether the
project is on Indian Country Lands.