The State of California released a new Industrial General Permit in July of 2015 (2014-0057-DWQ) that increased the types of industrial facilities that are required to obtain coverage as well as transitioned the reporting to be done electronically. The Industrial General Permit regulates storm water and authorized non-storm water discharges for industrial facilities that fall under nine federally defined categories of industrial activities.
These categories are:
- Facilities Subject to Storm Water Effluent Limitations Guidelines, New Source Performance Standards, or Toxic Pollutant Effluent Standard Found in 40 Code of Federal Regulations, Chapter 1, Sub-chapter N (Cement Manufacturing, Fertilizer Manufacturing, Petroleum Refining, Phosphate Manufacturing, Steam Electric, Coal Mining, Mineral Mining and Processing, Ore Mining and Dressing, Asphalt Emulsion, Landfills, and Airport Deicing
- Manufacturing Facilities
- Oil and Gas/Mining Facilities
- Hazardous Waste Treatment, Storage, or Disposal Facilities
- Landfills, Land Application Sites, and Open Dumps
- Recycling Facilities (metal scrap yards, battery re-claimers, salvage yards, and automobile junk yards)
- Steam Electric Power Generating Facilities
- Transportation Facilities (vehicle maintenance shops, equipment cleaning operations or airport deicing operations)
- Sewage or Wastewater Treatment Works (facilities used in the storage, treatment, recycling and reclamation of municipal or domestic sewage, including land dedicated to the disposal of sewage sludge, etc.)
If certain parameters are exceeded during testing it will trigger either a Numeric Action Level (NAL) or a Numeric Effluent Level (NEL) violation. If a violation occurs it will change the facility’s status from Baseline, which is the least restrictive, to Level I which requires preparation of Exceedence Response Actions (ERAs) to address the exceedence. ERAs must be prepared by a Qualified Industrial Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan Practitioner (QISP). If further violation occurs the facility will be elevated to Level 2 where a QISP will need to assist the facility in preparing an ERA Action Plan as well as an ERA Technical Report.
Adobe Associates, Inc. now offers Qualified Industrial Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP) Practitioner services and has a QISP certified engineer on staff. Please feel free to contact us if you have any Regulatory, Stormwater, or Industrial needs.