In addition to financial assistance, DEFA offers a variety of free and confidential compliance assistance services for small businesses and wastewater treatment plants. 

Many businesses and communities must comply with environmental regulations. However, complying with environmental regulation can be complex and require a lot of technical skill and regulatory knowledge. Business owners and small communities have many priorities and sometimes limited resources to devote to environmental compliance. Because of this, it can be difficult for businesses to keep up with changes in the regulations.

Recognizing these challenges, Ohio EPA offers free and confidential compliance assistance to help small businesses and communities understand and comply with the environmental regulations that apply to them. 

Small Business Assistance

The Office of Compliance Assistance and Pollution Prevention (OCAPP) provides a variety of services to assist small businesses in Ohio with navigating environmental regulation.

Our environmental compliance specialists can assist you with:

• Evaluating your regulatory requirements
• Permitting
• Reporting
• Record-keeping
• Confidential on-site assessments

If you are starting or expanding a business in Ohio, it is very important for you to determine whether you need environmental permits for your operations. OCAPP also offers a variety of self directed guides and tools to help you determine your permitting needs or regulatory requirements.

These tools include:

• Want to Start a New Business?: A factsheet that compiles regulatory resources for new businesses and helps summarize Ohio EPA regulations for new business owners. 
• Ohio EPA Permit Wizard: An online application that helps you determine what regulatory requirements and permits may be required by your business.
• Environmental Compliance Self-Assessment Guide for Small Businesses: A guide that helps identify the environmental regulations they are subject to and to assess their degree of compliance.
• Guide to Environmental Permitting in Ohio: A guide that helps you determine what environmental permits you need, why you need them and how to get them. 
• Recorded Webinars and Compliance Assistance Conference Talks: Learn from the experts at your own pace about  requirements that may apply to your business. 

*Please note: These tools provide a starting point for businesses to assess their requirements and should not be your only resource in determining your permitting and compliance responsibilities. 

 If you are interested OCAPP assistance, please contact your district compliance specialist or call our central office main line at 614-644-3469. 

Wastewater Treatment Assistance

DEFA also provides assistance to small communities that need assistance maintaining or bringing their wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) into compliance. The Wastewater Compliance Assistance Unit is committed to helping small communities who need assistance achieving compliance with their NPDES permit requirements. Please visit the Wastewater Compliance Assistance Unit webpage below for more information about the materials and services provided.