In this issue:
- Featured Article: 2012 Annual Report is going electronic!
- "Year 2 is over: What's Next?" PowerPoint Presentation and other tools
- Industrial Stormwater On-line Survey: Part 1 of 3
- Statewide Environmental Congress Citizens Forums
- Calendar of Events
Featured article: 2012 Annual Report is going electronic!
Big news: The 2012 annual report will be able to be submitted electronically! For the first time ever, you can fill out the 2012 annual report on your computer (fill in a PDF document) and email it to the MPCA.
There are no other major changes to the 2012 annual report compared with the past two years. We improved the report by clarifying the “annual impaired waters check” question and included an easier-to-use link to check to see if you discharge to, and are within a mile of, an impaired water.
Otherwise, the report’s questions remain the same as previous years. We ask you to:
- provide a summary of the required monthly inspections, including information about whether at least one inspection occurred during a precipitation (runoff) event
- provide a summary of sector-specific inspection requirements (most permittees have additional requirements)
- provide a summary of SWPPP/facility modifications within calendar 2012 (NOTE: If you had “Year 2” exceedances and changed your SWPPP in 2012, note the changes on this annual report)
- let us know whether you are using any of the monitoring waivers
- let us know if you are discharging to a newly impaired water or a water with a new Total Maximum Daily Load assigned to it
- provide information about any mobile activities. Note: this question is not applicable to most permittees because they do not conduct their facility’s industrial activities outside of their property boundary. Facilities with mobile concrete plants or mobile automobile crushers may conduct their activities off-site.
The Industrial Stormwater Program will mail out a newsletter/cover letter by January 31, 2013 with instructions on how to view, download and submit the annual report electronically. It is not yet available. No paper copies of the annual report will be mailed out unless requested.
The annual report is due March 31, 2013.
Still have questions? Or would you like to request a paper copy of the annual report form? Contact Melissa Wenzel.
"Year 2 is over: What's Next?" PowerPoint Presentation and other tools
Most permittees who have completed their “Year 2” of sampling requirements may be wondering “what’s next?” The Industrial Stormwater Program offers the following multiple answers:
-
Permit Information Access tool: Use this tool to view updated Monitoring Calendars and Stormwater Monitoring Report forms. Approximately two months after your final SWMR is due, your five-year calendar will be updated to reflect whether monitoring is required in “Year 4.” Please note that there are no required benchmark monitoring requirements in “Year 3.” Visit the Permit Information Access page to see if your calendar/SWMRs have been updated. As of the date of this newsletter, calendars have been updated for permittees who applied for permit coverage in April-October 2010.
-
Emails/letters: Industrial Stormwater program staff will email those permittees for whom we have a valid email address (or a hard-copy letter to those for whom we do not have a valid email address) indicating whether “Year 4” monitoring is required. The email will be sent to two groups: 1. Those for whom the facility’s sample results did not exceed; this will indicate your monitoring is complete. 2. Those for whom the facility’s sample results exceeded, or, facility staff did not collect a sample in “Year 2.” This scenarios requires the facility staff to sample in “Year 4.” Visit the Permit Information Access page to view the status of your Year 4” monitoring.
-
Online PowerPoint presentation: Industrial Stormwater program staff created this special, 15-minute audio/visual presentation that includes an embedded an audio (voiceover) to help people better understand monitoring requirements. To hear/view this “Year 2 benchmark monitoring requirements are over. Now what do I do?” presentation, click here.
If you did not submit any or all of the required SWMRs for one or more monitoring intervals within year 2, you are still required to send them in and should do so immediately. Failing to mail in the required forms may result in enforcement action.
For permittees whose results indicate exceedances, and discharge to either an impaired water or to an Outstanding Resource Value Water, once you discover the exceedance(s), you are required to:
- Update your Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan within 30 days.
- Implement necessary non-structural Best Management Practices (BMPs) within 60 days.
- Implement necessary structural BMPs within 180 days.
If you did not submit any or all of the required SWMRs for one or more monitoring intervals within year 2, you are still required to send them in and should do so immediately. Failing to mail in the required forms may result in enforcement action.
For all permittees with exceedances, visit Step 12 of the Industrial Stormwater program’s Steps to Compliance. This step includes sector- and pollutant-specific BMP suggestions.
We understand that the “What’s next? What’s required of me after a year of sampling?” is new. We hope you find these tools and messages helpful. The Industrial Stormwater program remains committed to helping permittees understand, and meet, their requirements.
| 
