Final General Permit

Storm Water Discharge from Small and Large Construction Activities

• Public Notice 

• General Permit OHC000004

• Responsiveness Summary

Draft General Permit Renewal

Storm Water Discharge from Small and Large Construction Activities

Ohio EPA is public noticing for comment a draft renewal National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) general permit that authorizes storm water discharges associated with construction activity.  This will be the fourth generation of this general permit and cover the entire State of Ohio.

An Ohio EPA public hearing to accept comments on the draft general permit has been scheduled for 3:00 p.m. on February 25, 2013 at the Ohio EPA Central Office, Conference Room B, 50 West Town Street, Columbus, Ohio 43215.  The public hearing will end when everyone in attendance has had an opportunity to provide comments related to the draft general permit.

In lieu of attending the public hearing, written comments may be submitted in person or by mail no later than March 4, 2013.  Deliver or mail all comments to:

Ohio Environmental Protection Agency
Division of Surface Water - Permits Processing Unit
50 West Town Street, Suite 700
P.O. Box 1049
Columbus, Ohio 43216-1049

The Ohio EPA permit number should appear next to the above address on the envelope and on each page of any submitted comments.

• Public Notice
• Fact Sheet
• Draft General Permit Renewal (OH000004)

Final General Permit

Storm Water Discharge from Small and Large Construction Activities

• Public Notice 

• General Permit OHC000003
  Note:  This general permit PDF document includes, on page 24, an updated link to the Ohio Lake Commission’s Balanced Growth Program.

  • Attachment A (U.S. EPA Rainfall Erosivity Waiver Fact Sheet)

• Responsiveness Summary for Significant Issues

• Responsiveness Summary for Additional Issues

The NPDES construction general permit (CGP) renewal authorizes NPDES permit coverage for those construction activities involving 1 or more acres of land disturbance. The expired CGP number is OHC000002 and the CGP renewal number is OHC000003. When applying for NPDES permit coverage for construction activities, please include general permit number OHC000003 on the notice of intent (NOI) application.

The CGP renewal contains the following new clarifying language and new requirements:

1. Increasing the sediment settling pond size and drain time (Part III.G.2.d.ii)

2. Post-construction (Part III.G.2.e)

   • Public road transportation projects

   • Offsite post-construction mitigation

   • Option for non-structural post-construction BMPs

3. Concentrated storm water discharges to wetlands (Part III.G.2.f)

4. Construction site inspection frequency reduction for dormant areas (Part III.G.2.i)

5. Requiring a maintenance agreement for all structural post-construction BMPs prior to terminating general permit coverage (Part IV.B.1)

Over the next year, Ohio EPA will mail notification letters to active permittees of CGPs OHR100000 and OHC000002 to inform them of the CGP reissuance (OHC000003). The notification letter will inform the permittee that they must notify Ohio EPA by letter, and will include a template letter for their signature, if they intend to continue CGP coverage. Permittees have 90 days to respond to the notification letter; if they do not respond, coverage will be terminated automatically. There is no fee for permittees to continue coverage under the CGP renewal.

Those permittees with coverage under previous CGPs who initiate land disturbance activities prior to receipt of the notification letter will not need to modify their storm water pollution prevention plans (SWP3) to comply with new requirements of the CGP renewal.