Petition to Change the Construction General Permit for Stormwater
Your Support of the Construction Industry Proposal for an Improved Construction General Permit for Stormwater in California Made a Difference!
The State Water Resources Control Board renewed the Construction General Permit (CGP) for Stormwater, which impacts almost all construction projects in California more than 1 acre in project size.
The most troubling element of the revised CGP was a new legal mandate that runoff leaving a job site must meet a numeric effluent limit (NEL), or a violation will be issued. This new proposal, which is being included by the State Water Board to address what are known as Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) regulations, won’t do anything to improve water quality or help job sites manage and conserve water. The new legal mandate proposal also invites 3rd party citizen lawsuits and litigation, every time a NEL is exceeded.
The Construction Industry in California developed an alternative proposal for the State Water Board’s CGP, which does not include a legal mandate to meet a NEL. The Construction Industry’s proposal is to use what are known as numeric action levels (NALs) as the baseline for assessing compliance and performance of erosion and sediment control best management practices (BMP).
NALs are already used in the existing CGP, which has been in effect for more than 10 years, for monitoring and assessing BMP performance.
HERE IS HOW YOU SUPPORTED THE EFFORT!
Your voice made a major difference in changing the permit, along with the coalition of construction industry trade associations and groups who supported the petition effort:
A BIG WIN & OUR GIANT THANK YOU!
To all the companies who signed the CICWQ Construction Industry Petition to support the industry-led alternative to the California Construction General Permit for Stormwater.
In the end, YOUR VOICE MATTERED. The State Water Board accepted last-minute comments from the Construction Industry and kept numeric effluent limits out of the permit for the most part.
And, most importantly the State Water Board recognized it does not have the data necessary to reliably set stormwater runoff water quality standards and agreed to re-open the permit in 3 years and work with the construction industry to collect reliable and meaningful data.
The newly adopted permit goes into full effect on September 1, 2023. Projects already permitted at that time will have 2 years to complete work under the existing permit, in effect since 2012.
Summary of the most troubling elements of the State’s CGP proposal:
Permit proposes numeric effluent limits (NELs) in some locations in S. California; nitrogen, phosphorus, metals, and toxic organics such as PCBs.
Permit proposes a “surrogate” measure of NEL exceedance using 100 milligrams per liter of total suspended solids (TSS); this value has no scientific basis or precedent in construction site runoff monitoring.
Permit requires construction sites to use water treatment technologies that won’t meet the NELs for the pollutants identified in the CGP.
The Permit will lead to legal enforcement actions taken against contractors by the State and by 3rd party citizen lawsuits, which are allowed under the Clean Water Act.
Summary of the Construction Industry’s CGP proposal
Use numeric action levels (NALs) to access best practice technology performance for nitrogen, phosphorus, metals, and toxic organics in watersheds where a TMDL applies.
Do not use Total Suspended Solids (TSS) as a measure of best practice performance (meeting NELs) without additional study and testing at construction sites.
Construction General Permit for Stormwater-Final Draft Updates
Haven’t kept up with the Construction General Permit (CGP) for Stormwater. CICWQ has been providing updates on this key issue affecting the Construction Industry.
