Industrial Stormwater News - March 2011

Minnesota Pollution Control Agency sent this bulletin at 03/02/2011 10:59 AM CST

industrial_stormwater_news

Welcome to the Industrial Stormwater Program March 2011 Newsletter!  In this issue:

Compliance Update

As snow melt approaches, so does the completion of the first full year of the agency’s Industrial Stormwater Multi-Sector General Permit coverage. 

During that year, industrial stormwater program staff assisted thousands of facilities and municipalities with new or renewing permit applications. They offered training, guidebooks, a video and many documents designed to help with permit compliance and No Exposure certification. Fieldwork included site inspections at facilities that either never had permit coverage or failed to re-apply for coverage under the most recent permit’s April 5, 2010 effective date. 

Given the extensive efforts designed to assist permittees, the MPCA compliance and enforcement program staff consider unpermitted facilities to be in a serious situation. Once discovered, unpermitted facilities are often issued a formal enforcement action that may include a monetary penalty. 

On January 12, 2011, a letter was sent out to previously-permitted facilities and those which certified for the No Exposure exclusion that had yet to reapply. This letter has prompted calls with questions regarding the current status of the industrial stormwater permit requirements and a facility’s obligation to reapply. Don’t wait for a letter or site inspection. All applicable facilities should apply/reapply for the permit on their own without prompting from the agency. 

Snow melt signals spring, and along with it, industrial stormwater permit requirements (including benchmark monitoring for most facilities). Call the helpful program staff with questions!

14 Steps to Compliance:  Updated

Once a facility has applied for, and received, permit coverage, owners/operators may wonder what to do next and when, especially related to stormwater sampling. 

The Industrial Stormwater Program’s Web site has some helpful answers:  It contains the 14 Steps in the “Industrial Stormwater - Steps to Compliance”:

  •  Step 1: Applicability - do you need a permit?
  •  Step 2: Consider certifying for No Exposure
  •  Step 3: Assess for pollutants, sources of contaminated stormwater
  •  Step 4: Gather application materials before applying
  •  Step 5: Create Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP), choose Best Management Practices (BMPs)
  •  Step 6: Apply, Modify, or Terminate Permit Coverage/No Exposure Certification
  •  Step 7: Sector-specific requirements, guidance
  •  Step 8: Install BMPs, train employees
  •  Step 9: Inspect monthly, report annually
  •  Step 10: Sample/monitor your stormwater
  •  Step 11: Evaluate and submit sampling results
  •  Step 12: Modify/add new BMPs
  •  Step 13: Sample/monitor again, send in results
  •  Step 14: Compliance and information to other environmental issues

 

Monitoring Guidance Manual available on the Web

Minnesota’s Monitoring Guidance Manual for Industrial Stormwater, issued in December 2010, is now available on the industrial stormwater Web site. The manual provides an A-Z guide on how to perform and submit industrial stormwater samples.

Prepare for Monitoring
Use the Monitoring Guidance Manual to help prepare for monitoring-- which could begin as early as April 5. Remember:  monitoring intervals are based on the date you received permit coverage and proper preparation will help you collect the most representative samples for your facility.

Monitoring Training
The MPCA, in cooperation with the University of Minnesota, will be offering “Industrial Stormwater Sampling and Monitoring” training at the Dodge Nature Center on March 30th.  The training will cover many of the important elements of monitoring requirements and will help make attendees be better prepared to begin sampling.  For more information or to register, download the registration form.

Each step has quick links to more detailed information, documents, resources and forms to help your facility comply with permit requirements.

For example, Step 10 contains information about how to:

  •  Select equipment needed to take a sample;
  • choose/confirm monitoring locations;
  • sample/monitor your facility’s industrial stormwater discharges;
  • ask laboratories the right questions before taking stormwater samples;
  • find the link to the Minnesota Department of Health’s Certified Laboratories list; and more.

Guidance Materials Created or Updated

Within the past couple of months, the Industrial Stormwater Program has created or updated a number of guidance documents that many permittees should find helpful:

  1. No Exposure: Qualifying For, and Maintaining, the Exclusion 
  2. Mercury Minimization Plan Checklist
  3. Municipally-Owned and Operated Industrial Activities
  4. Guidance on the Industrial Stormwater Permit for Transportation Sectors
  5. Guidance on the Industrial Stormwater Permit for the Air Transportation Sector (Sector S)
  6. Solid Waste Facilities: A Guide to Minnesota’s Industrial Stormwater Permit

WERF BMP SELECT Model

The Water Environment Research Foundation has created a tool that allows users to view and select various Best Management Practices for their facility. This tool has a wide array of different BMPs and allows the user to examine the effectiveness of alternative scenarios for controlling stormwater pollution and the whole life cost associated with each scenario. The tool includes some of the following BMPs: 

  • Extended detention
  • Bioretention
  • Wetlands
  • Swales
  • Permeable pavement
  • Filters

 Water quality parameters that can be simulated include:

  • TSS
  • Total nitrogen
  • Total phosphorus
  • Total zinc

For more information, visit the Water Environment Research Foundation Web site. 

Important Due Dates

  • March 30, 2011: University of Minnesota Monitoring Training Workshop. For more information, visit:  www.erosion.umn.edu/. To register, download the registration form.
  • March 31, 2011:  Annual report due, annual fee due.
  • April 5, 2011 and beyond:  Benchmark monitoring begins.  “Year 2” monitoring starts on the first anniversary of the permittee’s authorization date for permit coverage. For tips and suggestions on monitoring, visit:  Step 10:  Sample/monitor your stormwater.

Please forward this message to others interested in Industrial Stormwater Program updates.  Thank you!

Industrial Stormwater Program Team
Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
651-757-2119 or 800-657-3804 (non-metro only)

Email: iswprogram.pca@state.mn.us
www.pca.state.mn.us/industrialstormwater

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