In this issue:
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FEATURED ARTICLE: Benchmark Monitoring: Did you remember to submit your report?
- Effluent Monitoring: Is it required for your facility?
- U
of M Sampling Workshop
- No
Exposure Flyovers Continued
- 2011 Fee Invoices
- 2011 Annual
Report
- 2012
Compliance Calendar
- November 2011 Watershed/MS4/Industrial
Stormwater meeting
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Featured
article: Benchmark Monitoring: Did you remember to submit your report?*
All permittees are
required to begin benchmark monitoring one year after receiving industrial
stormwater permit coverage.
For example, if a
permittee received permit coverage on August 6, 2010, they are required to
conduct quarterly benchmark monitoring for one year at a minimum, starting
August 6, 2011. Results must be submitted to the MPCA on or before the
21st day of the month after the monitoring interval ends. For example, if your
monitoring interval is from January-March, your report would be due on or
before April 21.
If a permittee was not able
to collect a sample during their monitoring interval or there was not an
offsite discharge during the monitoring interval, the permittee is still
required to submit a Stormwater Monitoring Report form. Provide an
explanation in the "If NO flow occurred during monitoring period, explain
why" box and mail the form to the MPCA. The permittee is then required to
collect a substitute sample during the next sampling interval. Samples may be
taken at any time during an interval, except that sampling events shall be at
least 72 hours apart.
To learn more about
monitoring requirements, visit Step 10, “Sample/monitor your stormwater.”
Access the sampling manual, sampling YouTube videos, information on how to work
with a Minnesota Department of Health Certified Lab, and more. If you
have questions, please call. If you have not submitted your required
report, we encourage you to do so and, not get further behind and further out
of compliance with benchmark monitoring requirements. One permittee
commented a couple of months ago: “It’s supposed to rain on Monday and my
monitoring interval ends on Thursday. I’m getting up at 2:00 am and
collecting a sample if I have to!”
* Recently, more than 200
facilities received an email for not being in compliance with their required
Stormwater Monitoring Report submittable. If you’re wondering whether you filled
out this form, visit the Industrial Stormwater Permit Information Access
link to verify your submittable of the form, or complete this form now and submit it to return to
compliance. Have questions? See below:
Common Monitoring
Questions and Answers:
-
I don’t have an offsite discharge. Do I still have to send in the
form? Yes. For
benchmark monitoring, provide an explanation in the "If NO flow occurred
during the monitoring period, explain why" box, send in the form, and
attempt to collect two samples, at least 72 hours apart, within the next
monitoring interval.
-
I was unable to collect a sample during my monitoring interval. Do
I still have to send in the form? Yes. For
benchmark monitoring, provide an explanation in the "If NO flow occurred
during monitoring period, explain why" box, send in the form, and attempt
to collect two samples, at least 72 hours apart, within the next monitoring
interval.
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Where do I get the monitoring report forms? How do I figure out when my
monitoring intervals are? Go to the Industrial Stormwater Permit Information Access
link. Type
in the facility ID number or facility name. Click on the "search"
Button. Once
the results have loaded, click on that ID number in the lower left to view the
"Facility Information Menu."Click
on "Monitoring Calendar/Stormwater Monitoring Report (SWMR)" to view
your monitoring calendar and download the monitoring report forms.
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How do I know what parameters I need to monitor for? The information
is provided on your monitoring report form. Follow the steps provided in
Question 3 and view/print your monitoring report form.
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How can I collect a sample now that it’s winter? There are often
rain events in the winter throughout the state. With the ground frozen,
these conditions will likely allow for a stormwater discharge even at
facilities that have a high rate of natural infiltration. Also, there’s
often a few days of unseasonably warm temperatures during the winter, and snow
melt runoff can count as a measurable runoff event.
Effluent Monitoring: Is it
required for your facility?
Are you part of the four
percent of facilities that must comply with this additional once-a-year
stormwater sampling requirement? If so, you should have received a
reminder email about this once-a-year sampling requirement. If you conduct any
of the following activities, you have the additional effluent monitoring
requirements:
Regulated
Activity, Effluent Limit, Monitoring Frequency
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Discharges from wet
decking storage areas,See Sector A,1/year
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Runoff from phosphate
fertilizer manufacturing facilities that comes into contact with any raw
materials, finished product, by-products or waste products (SIC 2874),See
Sector C,1/year
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Runoff from asphalt
emulsion facilities,See Sector D,1/year
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Runoff from material
storage piles at cement manufacturing facilities,See Sector E,1/year
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Mine dewatering discharges
at construction sand and gravel, or industrial sand mining facilities,See
Sector J,1/year
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Runoff from hazardous
waste landfills,See Sector K,1/year
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Runoff from non-hazardous
waste landfills,See Sector L,1/year
- Runoff from coal storage
piles at steam electric generating facilities,See Sector O,1/year
Just like benchmark
monitoring, if there is no off-site discharge, the permittee is still required
to submit a Stormwater Discharge Monitoring Report form. Provide an
explanation in the "If NO flow occurred during monitoring period, explain
why" box and mail the form to the MPCA.
U of M Sampling Workshop:
In response to facilities
not submitting their Stormwater Monitoring Report deleted, not used again
forms, as well as permittees having questions regarding proper sampling
techniques or exceeding their benchmark values, the University of Minnesota is
holding another monitoring training workshop. This class is geared to
permittees who are just starting to collect stormwater samples or who have just
taken their first sample and want to improve their sampling techniques and
results. The class will be held at the Dakota County SWCD/U of M
Extension building, 4100 220th Street West, from 10:00 am-2:30 pm and the cost
is: $75; lunch is included. For more information, visit: www.erosion.umn.edu,
or to register, download the registration form.
No Exposure Flyovers Continued:
A new and efficient way
for MPCA staff to conduct inspections of industrial facilities that need a
stormwater permit is to include flyovers and aerial inspections. By
noting facilities that are permitted for the No Exposure exclusion, but have
open dumpsters, non-covered fueling stations or obvious sources of exposure of
raw materials, staff are able to see non-compliance evidence in aerial
photographs. To make sure your facility is in compliance, visit the web
site and review Step 2: Consider Certifying for No Exposure
which clearly states what is/is not considered No Exposure.
2011 Fee Invoices:
Industrial Stormwater fee
invoices for 2011 will be mailed out at the end of January 2012. You will
have 30 days to pay this bill. You may pay by check or electronically
through the Department of Revenue’s online payment system. Information on this
method of payment will be included in the mailed invoice. NOTE: A late fee of
10% of the amount due will be added to the original amount if the fee is not
paid within 60 days. At 30-day intervals the amount due will increase by 10%.
2011 Annual Report:
Annual Report time is
coming! The Industrial Stormwater General Permit Annual Report, which
covers each facility’s SWPPP information from January-December 2011, is due by
March 31, 2012. For new applicants, it covers the time the permittee
received permit coverage through December 2011. For this reporting year,
please pay special attention to the review of newly-listed impaired
waters.Look for more information
about this report, including specific instructions, in your mailbox and on the
Industrial Stormwater Program web site in January 2012.
Note: If you need to make
facility contact, monitoring location or other administrative changes, please do not use
the Annual Report to make these changes. Please use the Administrative
Change Form, found within the Industrial Stormwater Permit Information Access
link. Enter in your Permit ID #, click Search, and the Administrative Change
Form is under “View / Print Forms”.
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