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Confluence: October 2002, Vol. 4, No. 6
Interesting Individuals

This month, Confluence talks to Mike Mitchell of the EPA. Mitchell is EPA’s Region 4 NPDES Stormwater Coordinator and has agreed to answer some basic questions to help small communities understand the Phase II Stormwater program.

CONFLUENCE: Why is the EPA tightening discharge permits? What benefits does the agency hope to achieve by this new rulemaking?

MITCHELL: Since the passage of the Clean Water Act, the quality of the nation’s waters have improved dramatically. However, despite much progress, degraded and impaired waterbodies still exist. In the 1996 National Water Quality Inventory, a biennial summary State surveys of water quality, approximately 40% of surveyed U.S. waterbodies are still impaired by pollution, and do not meet water quality standards. A leading source of this impairment is polluted runoff. According to this inventory, 13% of impaired rivers, 21% of impaired lake acres and 45% of impaired estuaries are affected by construction discharges.

The Phase II Storm Water regulations are intended to further reduce adverse impacts to aquatic habitat and water quality by incorporating the use of controls on the unregulated source of storm water discharges that have the greatest likelihood of causing continued environmental degradation. The new regulation will target primarily sources of pollution from small municipal separate storm sewer systems (MS4s) and construction activities. By controlling the discharges of pollutants from these sources, the Agency hopes to minimize impacts that would result in fish kills, the destruction of spawning and wildlife habitats, losses in aesthetic value, contamination of drinking water supplies and recreational waterways that threaten public health, and negative impacts on the navigational capacity of waterways.

CONFLUENCE: How do the Phase II Storm Water permits differ from Phase I, and are there lessons learned from the Phase I process that might benefit the new round of applicants?

MITCHELL: The Phase I Storm Water Program was promulgated in 1990 under the Clean Water Act. Phase I relies on National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit coverage to address storm water runoff from: (1) “medium” and “large” MS4s generally serving populations of 100,000 or greater, (2) construction activity disturbing 5 acres of land or greater, and (3) ten categories of industrial activity.

The Storm Water Phase II regulation is the next step in the EPA’s effort to protect, preserve, and improve the Nation’s water resources from polluted storm water runoff. The Phase II program expands the Phase I program by requiring operators of MS4s in urbanized areas and operators of small construction sites (land disturbing activities of one acre or more), through the use of NPDES permits, to implement programs and
Practices to control polluted storm water runoff. Phase II MS4s will likely be covered under general permits instead of individual permits, which reduces the administrative burden on permitting authorities. Additionally, there are no monitoring requirements for Phase II MS4s.

Many of the programmatic differences between Phase I and II are the result of extensive consultation among stakeholders brought together on a subcommittee chartered under the Federal Advisory Committee Act, and with small entities participating in an advisory process mandated under the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act. In addition, EPA considered over 500 comments received on the rule during the 90-day public comment period on the proposed rule. Municipalities automatically designated by the rule are required to get coverage by March 10, 2003.

CONFLUENCE: What sorts of resources are available for these small communities to comply with the new regulations?

MITCHELL: As part of its overall effort to assist States, Tribes, municipalities, and other parties involved in the Phase II program, EPA has developed a “tool box”. This tool box is meant to facilitate implementation of the storm water program in an effective, cost-efficient manner . The tool box is available on EPA’s website at http://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/stormwater/swphase2.cfm

In addition to the tool box information, users can also access other related websites, and Regional and State contacts via the EPA website. Also, as part of its ongoing outreach efforts, EPA has continued to provide onsite training to the regulated community.

CONFLUENCE: How can local citizens and environmental organizations assist permit holders in achieving the desired results?

MITCHELL: Public involvement is an integral part of the Phase II small MS4 program, and is one of the six minimum control requirements in the storm water program. At a minimum, the regulations require that municipalities comply with applicable state and local public notice requirements. There are two important reasons why EPA feels the public should be allowed and are encouraged to provide valuable input and assistance to the MS4’s program.

First, early and frequent public involvement can shorten implementation schedule and broaden public support for a program. Opportunities for members of the public to participate in program development and implementation could include serving as citizen representatives on a local storm water management panel, attending public hearings, working as citizen volunteers to educate other individuals about the program, assisting in program coordination with other pre-existing programs, or participating in volunteer monitoring efforts. More importantly, members of the public may be less likely to raise legal challenges to a MS4’s storm water program if they have been involved in the decision making process and program development and, therefore, internalize personal responsibility for the program themselves.

Second, public participation is likely to ensure a more successful storm water program by providing valuable expertise and a conduit to other programs and governments. This is particularly important if the MS4s storm water program is to be implemented on a watershed basis. Interested stakeholders may offer to volunteer in the implementation of all aspects of the program, thereby conserving limited municipal resources.

CONFLUENCE: Where can people go for more information (i.e. websites, phone numbers, etc. )?

MITCHELL: As stated earlier, the EPA website provides an excellent source of information on the Phase II Storm Water program. EPA’s website can be accessed at http://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/stormwater/swphase2.cfm. Other related websites can be accessed through the EPA website include the Center for Watershed Protection at http://www.cwp.org , and the Local Government Environmental Assistance Network (LGEAN). LGEAN can be found at http://www.lgean.org. In addition to the related websites, users can also access Regional EPA and State contacts via the EPA website.

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