INDUSTRIAL STORM WATER PERMIT COMPLIANCE – PART 2

There is a new General Industrial Storm Water Permit as of 2014. The new permit eliminates the conditional exemptions from the prior (1997) Permit. Many California facilities that did not have to register under the 1997 Permit now must register under the 2014 Permit. The new General Industrial Storm Water Permit is complicated and requires preparation for a required facility to ensure you are in compliance and meet all deadlines. To help you start preparing ahead of time, there are some simple steps you can take now to prepare.

This is article is the second of a series in which our experts identify a few simple steps you can take each month as the deadline for compliance swiftly approaches. We like to think of it as helping you eat the elephant one bite at a time. For our first article on the series click

In California, the activities that take place at a facility determine whether the facility is required to obtain coverage under the Industrial General Permit (IGP). Standard Industrial Classification Codes (SIC) associated with the primary business of the facility owner as well as auxiliary activities and associated SIC codes will determine whether the facility is required to obtain coverage under the General Permit. For example, a school district must obtain coverage under the General Permit for its bus maintenance facility, even though the primary business of the district is education.

If a facility is subject to the IGP based on the facility activities, there are two possible compliance options. For facilities at which there is exposure of industrial activities or materials to storm water that may run off the site, the facility will be required to obtain coverage by filing Permit Registration Documents (PRDs), and prepare and implement a Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP). The steps required for these sites are:

Check with us next month for information on the preparation of a Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan.

If you have questions or for more information please contact our experts.
David Renfrew, Director of Water Resources at (760) 908-5749

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