New construction stormwater effluent guideline released

At least pre-global-economic-meltdown, fast and wild suburban growth was a big water quality issue in many parts of our region. Las Vegas, St. George. Phoenix, the Front Range and many smaller cities and towns were booming with new construction and associated problems with stormwater runoff. Although things have slowed down for now, construction-related runoff and its associated water quality and habitat problems will someday again be a front-burner issue in our region (and nationwide).

That's why you should be interested in U.S. EPA's release on Monday of a new effluent limitations guideline for discharges from the construction and development industry. EPA's factsheet on the new rule says:

This rule requires construction site owners and operators to implement a range of erosion and sediment control measures and pollution prevention practices to control pollutants in discharges from construction sites. In addition, the rule requires certain construction site owners and operators to sample stormwater discharges and comply with a numeric standard for the pollutant turbidity in these discharges starting in August of 2011.

What will this new rule mean as it is phased in? According to U.S. EPA:

This regulation is projected to reduce the amount of sediment discharged from construction sites by about 4 billion pounds each year, at an annual cost of about $953 million, once fully implemented.

What will the new rule mean here in our region? It is too soon to say exactly, but changes will be coming via renewal of your state's construction stormwater permit. For Idaho and New Mexico – states where U.S. EPA write the NPDES discharge permits – the new guidelines will be incorporated into the renewed Construction General Permit, set to expire June 30, 2011. For the remaining states in the region, as your current construction general permits expire and come up for renewal, your state will need to incorporate the new guidelines. If your state has an individual construction permits, the new guidelines will also apply.

See also our blog posting on What makes stormwater pollution control different in the West?

To learn more visit:

• U.S. EPA press release

• US EPA webpage on ELG

• Wall Street Journal "EPA Targets Construction-Site Pollution"