The following HTML text is provided to enhance online
readability. Many aspects of typography translate only awkwardly to HTML.
Please use the page image
as the authoritative form to ensure accuracy.
Urban Stormwater Management in the United States
1990
EPA’s Phase I Stormwater Permit Rules are Promulgated
Application and permit requirements for large and medium municipalities
Application and permit requirements for light and heavy industrial facilities based on Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) Codes, and construction activity ≥ 5 acres
1999
EPA’s Phase II Stormwater Permit Rules are Promulgated
Permit requirements for census-defined urbanized areas
Permit requirements for construction sites 1 to 5 acres
1997-2001
Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) Program Litigation
Courts order EPA to establish TMDLs in a number of states if the states fail to do so. The TMDLs assign Waste Load Allocations for stormwater discharges which must be incorporated as effluent limitations in stormwater permits.
2006-2008
Section 323 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005
EPA promulgates rule (2006) to exempt stormwater discharges from oil and gas exploration, production, processing, treatment operations, or transmission facilities from NPDES stormwater permit program.
In 2008, courts order EPA to reverse the rule which exempted certain activities in the oil and gas exploration industry from storm water regulations. In Natural Resources Defense Council vs. EPA (9th Cir. 2008), the court held that it was “arbitrary and capricious” to exempt from the Clean Water Act stormwater discharges containing sediment contamination that contribute to a violation of water quality standards.
2007
Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007
Requires all federal development and redevelopment projects with a footprint above 5,000 square feet to achieve predevelopment hydrology to the “maximum extent technically feasible.”
The Basic NPDES Program: Regulating Pollutant Discharges
The centerpiece of the CWA is its mandate “that all discharges into the nation’s waters are unlawful, unless specifically authorized by a permit” [42 U.S.C. §1342(a)]. Discharges do not include all types of pollutant flows, however. Instead, “discharges” are defined more narrowly as “point sources” of pollution, which in turn include only sources that flow through a discrete conveyance, like a pipe or ditch, into a lake or stream [33 U.S.C. §§ 1362(12) and (14)]. Much of the focus of the CWA program, then, is on limiting pollutants emanating from these discrete, point sources directly into waters of the United States. Authority to control nonpoint sources of pollution, like agricultural runoff (even when drained via pipes or ditches), is generally left to the states with more limited federal oversight and direction.
