 The new Industrial General Storm Water Permit in California goes into effect July 1, 2015 and was 13 years in the revision stages from the prior permit. This new permit differs significantly and is considerably more complex than the prior permit. Prepare now so you don’t have to scramble at the deadline date of July 1. Many more facilities are now covered! This new permit brings more than 100,000 additional facilities under permit coverage – facilities not previously covered under the previous permit. Now these facilities must enroll. Many businesses do not know they now need to comply with the Industrial General Storm Water Permit. If a facility does not file it’s intent under the permit there are mandatory monetary penalties to the Water Board and the risk of potentially more costly third party citizen enforcement lawsuits under the Clean Water Act.
Your facility might be covered under this new permit, even if you were not covered under the prior permit. How will you know? You will need to check your business SIC Code. See here to determine if you need to comply. http://www.swrcbca.gov/water_issues/programs/stormwater/sicnum.shtml (numericlisting) http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/stormwater/sic.shtml (alphabetical listing). The new permit includes additional monitoring requirements, additional BMPs, a tiered compliance process, numeric action levels and increased inspections — just a few of the significant changes from the prior permit. In addition there is a new online application, data reporting and tracking system called SMARTS. Facilities are required to upload all information into the online database and tracking system known as SMARTS which stands for Storm Water Multiple Application and Report Tracking System. All permit-related documents, including the Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan, monitoring data results, and action plans, must be posted on SMARTS. SMARTS is a publicly accessible and searchable online database. The public access and ability to search this database makes it nearly impossible to fly below the radar and avoid regulatory and/or public scrutiny. It will be imperative to ensure proper terminology, accuracy of information, and clarity of reports are uploaded to this public database. This database is easy for both the regulator and third parties (citizens) to access, query, and examine information. July 1 is only a few short months away. Prepare now to ensure your compliance. Alta has been hosting training sessions around the region to provide information, education and outreach to help industries in our communities understand the requirements and prepare. We held one free session in Oceanside, CA in 2014 and a session in Riverside in January 2015. If you have questions, give us a call. Dave Renfrew, Director of Water Resources (david.renfrew@altaenviron.com) 760-908-5749 Comments are closed.
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