Pollution discharge permits action checklist

1) Request a list of all permits (individual and general) in your area of interest.

2) Choose the permits you wish to evaluate and ask for the permit, fact sheets, antidegradation analysis (if it isn’t in the fact sheet), discharge monitoring reports (for individual permits) and any notes from the file.

3) Gather information on water quality standards (uses and criteria), current conditions in your watershed (i.e., is it listed as threatened or impaired?), and antidegradation policy and procedures for your state.

4) Get on the mailing list for public notices and hearings associated with new and renewing permits. Limit these announcements to your watershed if possible. Ask when each permit in your basin is due for renewal.

5) Find out how frequently your water quality agency verifies Discharge Monitoring Reports.

6) Find out how your agency monitors and enforces required management practices, especially for stormwater permits.

7) Investigate pollution prevention alternatives that should be considered when permits are due for renewal.

8) Find out what types of general permits have been developed by your state agency and how many of each type have been issued in your watershed. Get a list. Ask how these general permits are issued, monitored and enforced.

9) Find out whether and what enforcement actions have been taken against permit violators in your basin.

10) Determine how to challenge a permit after it is issued. Is it an administrative appeal to the state agency or is it a court challenge?

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