Posted by Karl Leitner on Friday, October 4, 2024
NPDES (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System) Permit Coverage in Pennsylvania Reissuance of PAG-O2 General Permit – Discharges of Stormwater Associated with Construction Activities
Do you have a NPDES PAG-02 General Permit for Discharges of Stormwater Associated with Construction Activities in Pennsylvania? If so, it needs your urgent attention as the State has recently published a final, reissued Permit, which requires all PAG-02 holders to renew, terminate, or seek an Individual NPDES permit prior to December 7, 2024.
There are three options of response:
- Renew the General NPDES permit prior to December 7, 2024.
- Prepare a Notice of Termination (NOT) for your project. If your project has been constructed and is 70% stabilized, this is your best option. However, the NOT must be prepared, submitted, and approved by the Conservation District prior to December 7, 2024. It is highly likely that if you have not already started this process, you will not be able to proceed with this plan. Call your engineer and/or Conservation District immediately.
- Prepare an Individual NPDES permit application and submit it prior to December 7, 2024 if the permit no longer qualifies for renewal of the General NPDES permit.
Things to consider:
Surface Water/Wetland Reclassifications
As you move to renew, you will need to check for classification changes. There may have been changes to the classification of the surface waters receiving stormwater discharges from your project site since you originally received PAG-02 coverage. If the surface waters have been upgraded to High Quality Waters (HQ) or Exceptional Value Waters (EV) or the site discharges to wetlands that have been reclassified as EV, the project no longer qualifies for a General Permit. An Individual NPDES Permit application will be required to continue coverage for the project.
Fees
You will also want to pay close attention to the fees involved. The PAG-02 Renewal will require a fee of $500 made payable to the County Conservation District Clean Water Fund. A separate fee may also be required in accordance with the applicable County Conservation District (CCD) fee schedule Find and contact your CCD to check applicability. An annual fee of $500 is required as long as the permit is open.
Increased Permittee Responsibilities
The updated PAG-02 General Permit Conditions place increased responsibilities and obligations on the permittee for monitoring the construction and maintenance of E&S BMPs and Post-Construction Stormwater Control Measures (SCMs). These responsibilities and obligations include:
- Qualified Site Inspectors – Effective December 8, 2025, permittees may use only qualified site inspectors to complete the weekly visual site inspections required by the PAG-02 General Permit. What does this mean? In the past, it was common practice to add the contractor as a co-permittee and in sharing the responsibility with the permittee, the contractor completed the weekly inspections. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is no longer allowing co-permittees. It is in the best interest of the permittee to have a qualified inspector who is not related or otherwise engaged with the contractor. There are three options for an inspector to be considered qualified (see Part A III.C.1.c of the reissued PAG-02 General Permit).
- The inspector has completed the Qualified Site Inspector Training Program in DEP’s Clean Water Academy.
- The inspector has certification as a Certified Professional in Erosion and Sediment Control (CPESC) or as a Certified Erosion, Sediment, and Stormwater Inspector (CESSWI).
- The inspector’s training and experience has been approved in writing by DEP/CCD.
- SCM Construction Certification Form – Within 30 days following completion of a structural PCSM SCM, as defined in the reissued PAG-02 General Permit, the permittee must submit the SCM Construction Certification Form (3800-FM-BCW0271j) to DEP/CCD, signed by the permittee and a licensed professional.
- A separate SCM Construction Certification Form is required for each SCM. If there are multiple SCMs proposed, this will require multiple inspections as each SCM is completed.
- Annual Report – By December 7th of each year, the permittee must submit an annual report (3800-PM-BCW0405e (.doc)(.pdf)) to the office of DEP/CCD that approved the general permit coverage to report on the status of earth disturbance activities. The first annual report for existing permittees is due December 7, 2025. The reporting period for the annual report is from October 1 to September 30.
- Confirmation Testing for Infiltration Stormwater Control Measures (SCMs) – Effective December 8, 2025, confirmation testing for infiltration capacity must be completed under the direction of a licensed professional to verify infiltration SCMs will function as designed.
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Tagged: Stormwater | Regulations