Indiana Department of Environmental Management

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Indiana Department of Environmental Management

• NPDES Permit Program Overview

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Introduction

• This presentation will provide you with an
  overview of the NPDES Permit Program including
  the Background, Applicability, Definitions,
  Exclusions, Types of Permits, the Components of
  an Individual Permit and the Permitting Process.

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Background

• In 1972, an amendment to the Federal Water
  Pollution Control Act, commonly known as the
  Clean Water Act (CWA), was enacted by Congress to
  address serious pollution problems affecting the
  nation s rivers, lakes, and coastal waters.
• One of the cornerstones of the CWA was the
  establishment, in Section 402 of the Act, of the
  National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System
  (NPDES) Program. The NPDES Program regulates
  discharges of pollutants into the nations waters
  through the issuance of NPDES permits.

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Background

• How IDEM protects the environment
• Develops regulations and issues permits to
  restrict discharges to the environment to safe
  levels
• Inspects and monitors permitted facilities to
  ensure compliance with the permits
• Enforces against people who exceed their permit
  levels or violate regulations
• Educates people on their environmental
  responsibilities

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Background

• Progress in NPDES Permit Backlog Reduction
• In 2005, there were 263 administratively extended
  NPDES permits
• Six of those 263 remain to be issued
• US Steel Gary Works
• US Steel Midwest Division
• Arcelor Mittal Indiana Harbor East
• Arcelor Mittal Indiana Harbor West
• Arcelor Mittal Burns Harbor
• Hoosier Energy Merom Plant

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Applicability

• At the national level, the NPDES Program applies
  to the discharge of pollutants from point sources
  into waters of the United States
• In Indiana, the NPDES Program applies to the
  discharge of pollutants from point sources into
  waters of the State of Indiana.

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Definitions

• Pollutant is broadly defined and essentially
  includes any type of industrial, municipal, and
  agricultural waste discharged into water.
• For regulatory purposes, pollutants have been
  grouped into three general categories under the
  NPDES Program Conventional Toxic and Non
  -conventional.

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Definitions

• Conventional pollutants include five day
  biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5), total suspended
  solids, pH, E. coli., and oil and grease.
• Toxic pollutants are those defined in Section
  307(a)(1) of the CWA and include metals and
  manmade organic compounds.
• Non conventional pollutants are those that do not
  fall under either of the above categories, and
  include such parameters as ammonia, nitrogen,
  phosphorus, and chemical oxygen demand.

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Definitions

• In Indiana, Point Source is defined in 327 IAC
  5 1.5 40, as any discernible, confined, and
  discrete conveyance from which pollutants are or
  may be discharged. The rule lists examples of
  point sources, which include pipes, ditches,
  channels, tunnels, conduits, wells, concentrated
  animal feeding operations, and landfill leachate
  collection systems.

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Definitions

• In Indiana, waters as defined by IC 13 11 265 ,
  means the accumulations of water, surface and
  underground, natural and artificial, public and
  private, or a part of the accumulations of water,
  that are wholly or partially within, flow
  through, or border upon Indiana.
• The term "waters" does not include
• an exempt isolated wetland
• a private pond or
• an off stream pond, reservoir, wetland, or other
  facility built for reduction or control of
  pollution or cooling of water before discharge

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Discharges excluded from regulation under the
NPDES Program

• Discharges from various agricultural activities
  designated as non-point source activities, such
  as runoff from orchards, cultivated crops,
  pastures, range lands, and forest lands and
• Discharges into publicly owned treatment works by
  indirect dischargers. Such discharges are,
  however, subject to the pretreatment regulations.
  

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Individual NPDES Permits

• An individual permit is a permit specifically
  tailored to an individual facility, and is
  developed based on the information contained in
  the permit application.
• IDEM has established three broad categories of
  individual permits municipal permits, industrial
  permits, and wet weather permits.

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Municipal Permits

• Major Municipal facility is a sewage treatment
  plant owned by a municipality (cities, towns,
  regional sewer districts) that is designated by
  U.S. EPA as a major discharger. Typically, this
  designation is assigned to facilities with a
  design flow of 1 million gallons per day (mgd) or
  greater.
• Minor Municipal facility is a sewage treatment
  plant owned by a municipality (cities, towns,
  regional sewer districts) that is not designated
  by U.S. EPA as a major discharger. Typically,
  facilities with a design flow of less than 1 mgd
  are considered minor dischargers.

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Municipal Permits

• Semipublic facility is a sewage treatment plant
  not owned by a municipality, state agency, or
  federal agency (e.g. mobile home parks, schools,
  and restaurants).
• State Owned facility is a sewage treatment plant
  owned or managed by a State agency (e.g. state
  parks and rest areas).
• Federally Owned facility is a sewage treatment
  plant or industrial wastewater treatment plant
  owned by a federal agency (e.g. military
  installations and national parks).

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Industrial Permits

• Major discharger facilities are those designated
  as such by U.S. EPA. The designation of an
  industrial discharger as a major generally
  involves the consideration of factors relating to
  the significance of the dischargers impact on the
  environment, such as the nature and quantity of
  pollutants discharged the character and
  assimilative capacity of the receiving water, the
  presence of toxic pollutants in the discharge
  and the compliance history of the discharger
• Minor dischargers not those not designated as a
  major.

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Wet Weather Permits

• NPDES permits are issued for
• Storm Water Associated with Industrial Activity
• Combined Sewer Overflows
• Storm Water Associated with Construction Activity

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General Permits

• General Permits are established for categories of
  point sources having common elements, such as
  facilities that involve the same or substantially
  similar types of operations or facilities that
  discharge the same types of wastewater. Thus,
  general permits cover multiple facilities within
  a specific category, unlike individual permits,
  which apply to and are tailored to individual
  facilities.

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General Permits

• 327 IAC 15 - 5 (often referred to as Rule 5 )
  Storm Water Run - Off Associated with
  Construction Activity.
• 327 IAC 15 - 6 (often referred to as Rule 6 )
  Storm Water Discharge Associated with Industrial
  Activity.
• 327 IAC 15 - 7 Facilities Engaged in Coal Mining,
  Coal Processing, and Reclamation Activities.
• 327 IAC 15 - 8 Facilities Discharging Non-contact
  Cooling Water.
• 327 IAC 15 - 9 Wastewater Discharge Associated
  with Petroleum Products Terminals

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General Permits

• 327 IAC 15 - 10 Wastewater Discharge Associated
  with Groundwater Petroleum Remediation Systems
• 327 IAC 15 - 11 Wastewater Discharge Associated
  with Hydrostatic Testing of Commercial Pipelines
• 327 IAC 15 - 12 Facilities Engaged in Sand,
  Gravel, Dimension Stone or Crushed Stone
  Operations
• 327 IAC 15 - 13 (often referred to as Rule 13 )
  Storm Water Run - Off Associated with Municipal
  Separate Storm Sewer System Conveyances

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Components of an Individual NPDES Permit

• Cover Page
• Treatment Facility Description Classification
• Effluent Limitations
• Monitoring Reporting Requirements
• Standard Conditions

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Cover Page

• Name of the permit holder (referred to as
  permittee )
• Identification of facility/point source
  discharges (referred to as outfalls ) for which
  the permit applies
• Identification of the receiving water(s)
• Conditional authorization for the discharge from
  the specified outfalls (referred to as effluent
  ) to the specified receiving water(s) and
• Permit effective date and permit expiration date.

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Treatment Facility Description Classification

• Briefly describes the treatment facility and
  identifies the treatment system classification
  which corresponds to the level of Certified
  Operator needed to operate the treatment system
• Municipal I -SP, I, II, III, or IV
• Industrial A -SO, A, B, C, or D

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Effluent Limitations

• Effluent limitations can be water quality based
  or technology based.
• Water quality based effluent limitations are
  established to ensure that discharges do not
  cause a violation of state water quality
  standards. Water quality standards are
  established to protect human health and aquatic
  life. In Indiana, the state water quality
  standards are set forth in 327 IAC 2 - 1, and,
  for waters within the Great Lakes Basin, 327 IAC
  2 - 1.5.

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Effluent Limitations

• Technology based effluent limitations reflect the
  minimum level of pollutant treatment/control that
  must be achieved for various categories of
  dischargers. Generally speaking, for conventional
  pollutants, technology based effluent limitations
  must reflect use of Best Conventional Control
  Technology (BCT), while for toxic and non
  conventional pollutants, technology based
  effluent limitations must reflect use of Best
  Available Technology Economically Achievable
  (BAT).

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Effluent Limitations

• Regulations promulgated by the U.S. EPA under
  authority of Sections 301, 304, 306 and 307 of
  the Clean Water Act that set out minimum,
  national technology-based standards of
  performance for point source wastewater
  discharges from specific industrial categories
  (e.g., iron and steel manufacturing plants -
  40CFR Part 420). Effluent limitations guidelines
  and standards regulations are implemented through
  the NPDES permit and national pretreatment
  programs and include the following

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Effluent Limitations

• Best Practicable Control Technology Currently
  Available (BPT)
• Best Available Technology Economically Achievable
  (BAT)
• Best Conventional Pollutant Control Technology
  (BCT)
• New Source Performance Standards (NSPS)
• Pretreatment Standards for Existing Sources
  (PSES)
• Pretreatment Standards for New Sources (PSNS)
• The pretreatment standards (PSES, PSNS) are
  applicable to industrial facilities with process
  wastewater discharges to publicly owned treatment
  works (POTWs). The effluent limitations
  guidelines and new source performance standards
  (BPT, BAT, BCT and NSPS) are applicable to
  industrial facilities with direct discharges of
  process wastewaters to waters of the United
  States

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Monitoring Reporting Requirements

• Used to evaluate wastewater treatment efficiency
  and determine compliance with permit conditions.
• The parameters that must be monitored and the
  minimum monitoring frequencies are established
  based on the source and nature of the discharge.
   
• The monitoring results are sent to IDEM on a
  monthly basis on forms referred to as Discharge
  Monitoring Reports.

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Standard Conditions

• Every permit contains conditions that apply to
  all NPDES permits and delineate the legal,
  administrative, and procedural requirements of
  the permit. The standard conditions that apply
  to all individual NPDES permits are found in Part
  II of the permit.

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Permitting Process

• Facility Submits Applicable Permit Application
• IDEM Reviews Application for Completeness
  Accuracy  
• IDEM Requests Additional Information as Necessary
   
• IDEM Prepares Draft Permit Justification for
  Proposed Permit Conditions (Fact Sheet)  
• IDEM Places Draft Permit on Public Notice 
• IDEM Considers Respond to Comments and, if
  warranted, makes changes to Draft Permit  
• IDEM Issues Final Permit

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Public Notice Process

• Prior to issuance, the draft permit is placed on
  public notice for a minimum of 30 days to receive
  comments from the public and the permittee.
  During the public notice period, any interested
  party, including the permittee, may request that
  a public hearing be held to allow those in
  attendance to present oral and written comments
  to IDEM regarding conditions of the permit.

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• An extensive amount of information is required as
  part of the application process. Required
  information includes
• General information, such as name and address of
  the facility, the facility owner, and the
  facility certified operator.
• Information regarding the use of water treatment
  additives.
• Identification of Potentially Affected Persons.
• Information regarding each point source to be
  covered by the permit, including location,
  receiving stream, a description of the process
  contributing to the wastewater flow, the
  frequency of flow, and the flow rate.
• Information regarding production rates for any
  process that is subject to an effluent guideline
  that is calculated based on production rate.
• Identification of pollutants that the discharger
  believes to be present in the discharge and, for
  specified pollutants, analytical results
  depicting the concentrations of such pollutants
  in the case of new dischargers, estimated values
  are required to be reported, in lieu of actual
  analytical data.

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Response to Comments

• IDEM must consider and respond to all oral and
  written comments prior in conjunction with the
  issuance of the final permit. If permit
  conditions are significantly changed in response
  to the comments, the re-drafted permit may be
  placed on public notice for an additional 30 day
  period with the opportunity for a public hearing.
  

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Issue Final Permit

• After permit conditions are finalized, the permit
  is issued, for a term not to exceed 5 years.
  Any affected party may appeal the permit by
  filing a petition for review with the Indiana
  Office of Environmental Adjudication within the
  statutory timeframe, which in many cases means
  that the appeal must be filed within 18 days of
  permit issuance. The party filing the appeal may
  also request a stay of the contested permit
  terms. If a stay is granted by the Environmental
  Law Judge, then the contested terms do not take
  effect pending the outcome of the permit appeal.

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General Permits Process

• In order to obtain coverage under an NPDES
  general permit, an applicant must meet the
  applicability requirements for the particular
  general permit for which coverage is sought.
  Additionally, the applicant must submit a Notice
  of Intent (NOI) letter, which contains the
  information required by 327 IAC 15 - 3 as well as
  the information specified by the applicable
  general permit rule.

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General Permit Process

• IDEM reviews the NOI and if the information
  provided is insufficient, issues a Notice of
  Deficiency, which identifies the information
  deficiencies. If the information provided is
  sufficient, IDEM issues a Notice of Sufficiency,
  which grants the applicant coverage under the
  general permit rule.  
• IDEM public notices the issuance of final
  decisions regarding the Notice of Intent,
  including the issuance of a Notice of Sufficiency
  or a Denial of the NOI (in cases where IDEM
  determines that the applicant does not meet the
  general permit applicability requirements).