Storm Water Requirements
for Small Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems (MS4s)
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Background
Phase II MS4 Permitting in EPA Region 10's Jurisdiction
Which MS4s are included in the Phase II program? Only a subset of small MS4s, the regulated small MS4s, will be required to obtain an NPDES storm water permit. Such MS4s are located within Urbanized Areas as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau, or are designated by the NPDES permitting authority. See EPA's urbanized area maps.
"Who's in and Who's out?" -- Who has to get NPDES permit coverage as a MS4?
There are three ways a MS4 can be required to obtain NPDES permit coverage for their storm water discharges (See 40 CFR 122.32 for the specific regulatory language):
a) Automatic Designation: All Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems (MS4s) located within the boundaries of an UA are automatically designated as needing NPDES permit coverage. Designated MS4s must develop a Storm Water Management Plan, based on the "6 minimum measures" discussed in the Phase II rule, and apply for NPDES permit coverage by March 10 2003. (40 CFR 122.33 and 40 CFR 122.34)
b) Designation by the Permitting Authority, based on designation criteria: Any other MS4 that is designated the NPDES Permitting Authority must also develop a Storm Water Management Plan and obtain NPDES permit coverage for their storm water discharges. If an MS4 is designated by December 9, 2002, the deadline for an application is March 10, 2003.
c) Designation by the Permitting Authority, based on a petition from a third party or new information. A third party can petition the PA with relevant information regarding storm water discharges from a MS4. . The PA must make a final determination of any petition within 180 days after receipt. A newly designated MS4 would then have 180 days to apply for coverage for their storm water discharges. Similarly, EPA may in the future designate other MS4s based on other newly available and/or relevant information; designated MS4s would also have 180 days from the notification date to apply for permit coverage.
How does Phase II overlap with the existing "Phase I" stormwater permits for municipalities? The MS4s owned/operated by public entities in the Municipality of Anchorage, Alaska, and the Boise/Garden City/Ada County, Idaho, areas are already covered by a NPDES municipal storm water permit issued under "Phase I". Those requirements will remain in place, and will not change under Phase II.
Where the Year 2000 Urbanized Area boundaries include additional geographic area not already included in the Phase I programs, MS4s in those areas will be considered as regulated small MS4s under Phase II.
Permit Application Instructions for Regulated Small MS4s in EPA's Jurisdictions within the Pacific Northwest
This "Question & Answer" document outlines the necessary permit application requirements, and is designed to assist operators of regulated small MS4s to prepare a NPDES permit application for their municipal storm water discharges. The document identifies the information to be submitted, and contains an appendix of all applicable regulatory references for the applicant's convenience.
Please note: There are no application forms for the Phase II MS4 permit program at this time. Small MS4 operators may apply for individual permits as allowed by the regulations at 40 CFR 122.33. A permit application can be substantively completed by following the applicable regulations and by using the suggestions included in the above document.
Applications Received by EPA Region 10
NPDES permit applications have been submitted by the entities listed below. EPA has received correspondence from other municipal organizations not listed here regarding their status under the Phase II storm water program.
MS4 Applicants from the Idaho Falls, Idaho Urbanized Area
City of Idaho Falls/Idaho Transportation Department #6 - Idaho Falls (applied as co-permittees)
Bonneville County |
MS4 Applicants from the Pocatello, Idaho Urbanized Area
| City of Pocatello, City of Chubbuck, Bannock County, ITD #5 - Pocatello (all applied as co-permittees) |
MS4 Applicants from the Coeur d’Alene, Idaho Urbanized Area
City of Coeur d’Alene
City of Post Falls
ITD #1 - Coeur d’Alene
Post Falls Highway District |
MS4 Applicants from the Caldwell, Idaho Urbanized Area
City of Caldwell
City of Nampa
City of Middleton
Nampa Highway District,
Canyon Highway District,
Notus-Parma Highway District
Housing Authority of the City of Caldwell |
MS4 Applicants from the Boise, ID Urbanized Area
ITD #3 - Boise
Ada County Highway District |
MS4 Applicants from the Lewiston, ID Urbanized Area
City of Lewiston
ITD #2 - Lewiston |
MS4 Applicants from the Greater Seattle, Washington Urbanized Areas
Naval Submarine Base Bangor
Naval Station Everett
Naval Hospital Bremerton
Fort Lewis
Tulalip Tribes |
Why will EPA develop individual NPDES permits for these Phase II municipalities, instead of a NPDES general permit as described in the Phase II regulations?
There are a variety of reasons that EPA Region 10 has chosen to develop individual permits for Phase II MS4s.
1) First, many of the waterways receiving urban stormwater discharges subject to permitting are impaired for various pollutants, or have Total Maximium Daily Load (TMDLs) requirements that speak to municipal discharges. Such waterbody-specific needs must accounted for within NPDES permits. Using individual permitting allows EPA to include specific requirements as appropriate.
2) Secondly, many areas of Idaho, Alaska and Western Washington where EPA issues permits are listed as habitat for aquatic species under the Endangered Species Act. EPA's NPDES permitting is a federal action, which obligates EPA to consult with the National Marine Fisheries Service and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service regarding impacts of the permit decision on endangered species. Individual permitting allows for specific requirements to be included as appropriate for the waterbody and species in question.
3) EPA also has a Government-to-Government obligation to consult with tribal representatives on NPDES permitting actions. Individual NPDES permits allow EPA to consult on particular topics of concern with interested tribes as necessary.
4) Lastly, a decision from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals (Environmental Defense Center, et. al. v. EPA, September 15, 2003) determined that EPA's Phase II recommendation that NPDES permitting authorities use general permits to regulate municipal storm water discharges violated various provisions of Clean Water Act regarding public review and public hearings in the permitting process. The court remanded those portions of the Phase II rule back to EPA; in April 2004, EPA issued guidance to NPDES permitting authorities to help comply with the 9th Circuit Court decision.
In order to comply with the intention of this 9th Circuit Court decision, and for the reasons listed above, EPA Region 10 has determined that issuing individual permits for municipal storm water discharges is the appropriate manner in which to both accomplish the water quality goals of this program and address the unique needs of the municipal operators.
"Phase II " Municipal Storm Sewer Permits Issued by EPA Region 10
Permittee(s)
& Permit Number | Permit
Effective Dates | Final Permit,
Fact Sheet, &
Response to Comments |
City of Idaho Falls/Idaho Transportation Department, District #6 MS4
IDS-028070 | 05/01/07 -- 04/30/12 | |
Pocatello, City of and City of Chubbuck, Bannock County and Idaho Transportation Department- District 5
MS4s
IDS-028053 | 12/15/06 - 12/14/12 | |
City of Fairbanks,
City of North Pole, University of Alaska, &
AK Dept. of Transportation and Public Facilities MS4s
Fairbanks, AK
AKS-053406 | June 1, 2005-
May 31, 2010 | |
Fairbanks North Star Borough MS4
Fairbanks, AK
AKS-053414 | June 1, 2005-
May 31, 2010 | |
Region 10's Designation Criteria for Small Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems (MS4) (Draft)
This draft document, updated in June 2002, outlines both the criteria and the process that the EPA Region 10 plans to use to designate MS4s for inclusion in the NPDES storm water permitting program. These criteria apply to small MS4s that are located outside of U.S. Census Bureau -defined Urbanized Areas. Updates to this designation criteria will be made periodically. Questions about this document should be directed to Misha Vakoc at EPA Region 10 at (206) 553-6650 or vakoc.misha@epa.gov
EPA must evaluate certain areas outside of Urbanized Areas to see if they too should be included in the permit program. This second group of locations contain "candidate" MS4s, which must be evaluated by EPA to affirmatively say whether they are "in or out."
Specifically, EPA must evaluate MS4s in those areas with a population of 10,000 people and a population density of at least 1,000 people per square mile. Areas meeting this definition includes: Blackfoot, Moscow, Mountain Home, Rexburg and Twin Falls, Idaho. There are no candidate areas in AK that meet both the population and the density threshold described above.
MS4 Permitting Decision Tree
This 1-page file contains a "permitting decision tree" to help operators of small MS4s determine whether an NPDES permit is required. This page is excerpted from the EPA's Storm Water Phase II Compliance Assistance Guide. Questions should be directed to Misha Vakoc at EPA Region 10 at (206) 553-6650 or vakoc.misha@epa.gov
The following EPA factsheets describe the Phase II requirements for municipal storm sewer systems in detail
(Note: you will need Adobe Acrobat for open these .pdf files):
Fact Sheet 1.0 Storm Water Phase II Final Rule - An Overview
Fact Sheet 2.0 Small MS4 Storm Water Program Overview
Fact Sheet 2.1 Who's Covered? Designation and Waivers of Regulated Small MS4s
Fact Sheet 2.2 Urbanized Areas: Definition and Description
These fact sheets discuss the Minimum Control Measures which must be included in a Storm Water Management Program:
Fact Sheet 2.3 Public Education and Outreach
Fact Sheet 2.4 Public Participation and Involvement
Fact Sheet 2.5 Illicit Discharge Detection and Elimination
Fact Sheet 2.6 Construction Site Runoff Control
Fact Sheet 2.7 Post-Construction Runoff Control
Fact Sheet 2.8 Pollution Prevention/Good Housekeeping Minimum Control Measure
Fact Sheet 2.9 Permitting and Reporting: The Process and Requirements
Fact Sheet 2.10 Federal and State Operated MS4s: Program Implementation
Final Phase II regulations, published in the Federal Registeron December 8, 1999
(Note: This document has been broken into smaller increments for ease of downloading.)
Section 1: Pages 68721-68802 (82 pp, PDF format)
Section 2: Pages 68771-68851 (50 pp, PDF format)
GUIDANCE:
Stormwater Case Studies EPA has prepared these case studues to help municipalities get started on or improve their stormwater management programs. For example, to address its high growth rate, Douglas County, Colorado developed a successful construction permit review, issuance and inspection process, and wrote a comprehensive Grading, Erosion and Sediment (GESC) Control manual. The State of Maine developed a public education campaign based exclusively on social marketing principles which raised stormwater pollution awareness.
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Storm Water Illicit Discharge Detection & Elimination Manual
The Center for Watershed Protection and the University of Alabama, produced a comprehensive manual to help municipal operators to find and correct illicit discharges to their storm sewer systems.
Illicit Discharge Detection and Elimination (IDDE) Trainers - Preventing, finding, and fixing illicit discharges to municipal storm sewer systems presents unique and sometimes significant challenges for communities. A group of people have completed EPA's IDDE train-the-trainer course and are available to help train communities on how to implement the IDDE requirements of the Phase II stormwater program.
EPA's Storm Water Phase II Compliance Assistance Guide (March 2000)
This document describes the all of the various requirements of the Phase II rules for municipal, small construction and industrial sources.
EPA's Measurable Goals Guidance for Phase II Communities (October 2000)
One component of a community's the storm water management program is to select measurable goals to evaluate the effectiveness of individual control measures and the storm water management program as a whole. This guidance helps small MS4s incorporate measurable outcomes into their local programs.
EPA's Menu of Best Management Practices for Storm Water Phase II Communities (October 2001)
This menu document describes a range of possible BMPs that a community could choose to fufill the six minimum control measures as part of a storm water management program.
Downloadable files of the Menu of BMPs
Financing Stormwater Management
This site is designed to help communities find ways to pay for stormwater management projects.
Storm Water Managers Resource Center
Developed by the Center for Watershed Protection, this site has many user-friendly features such as a searchable stormwater library, 10 browsable slide shows, a manual builder, an ordinance selector, and more than 50 different fact sheets on virtually every topic necessary for a community to implement Phase I or II storm water requirements.
Model Ordinances EPA's Office of Water has put together a number of "Model Ordinances" for municipalities.
Economic Benefit of Runoff Controls
Innovative Technologies:
EPA Region 1 hosts a Innovative Technology Inventory of storm water information which may be useful.
Economic Analysis of the Phase II Final Rule
Provides EPA's Economic Analysis of the Phase II Storm Water Rule, the regulatory action which requires small municipalities and construction sites to implement best management practices to control storm water discharges. This analysis updates the benefit-cost analysis prepared for the proposed rule. This analysis is based on the final rule. Revisions have been made in response to internal agency review and comments received during the public comment period.
Cover and Disclaimer
[Click here to download in PDF format - 103KB ]
Table of Contents
[Click here to download in PDF format - 83KB ]
Executive Summary
[Click here to download in PDF format - 145KB ]
Chapter 1: Introduction
[Click here to download in PDF format - 83KB ]
Chapter 2: Environmental Concerns Addressed By the Rule
[Click here to download in PDF format - 127KB ]
Chapter 3: Baseline for Estimating Benefits and Costs
[Click here to download in PDF format - 184KB ]
Chapter 4: Potential Costs, Pollutant Load Reductions, and Cost
Effectiveness
[Click here to download in PDF format - 223KB ]
Chapter 5: Qualitative Assessment of Benefits
[Click here to download in PDF format - 130KB ]
Chapter 6: Quantitative Assessment of Benefits
[Click here to download in PDF format - 300KB ]
Chapter 7: Comparison of Benefits and Costs
[Click here to download in PDF format - 94KB ]
Chapter 8: Revised Small Entity Assessment
[Click here to download in PDF format - 156KB ]
Chapter 9: No Exposure
[Click here to download in PDF format - 164KB ]
Chapter 10: References
[Click here to download in PDF format - 104KB ]
Appendix A: Literature Related to the Potential Impacts of Storm Water
Discharges
[Click here to download in PDF format - 96KB ]
Appendix B: Data and Methods Associated with Municipal, Construction,
and Post-Construction Programs
[Click here to download in PDF format - 452KB ]
Appendix C: Supplemental Benefits Calculations
[Click here to download in PDF format - 99KB ]
Appendix D: Data Associated with the Phase II No Exposure Provision
[Click here to download in PDF format - 478KB ]
Appendix E: The National Water Pollution Control Assessment Model
[Click here to download in PDF format - 735KB ]