Clean Water Act Section 401 Water Quality Certifications – A Reminder

September greetings!

If you are applying for a Coast Guard bridge permit for a project that has the potential to result in any discharge into waters of the United States, then a Clean Water Act Section 401 Water Quality Certification is required from the cognizant certifying authority. Certifying authorities, which are the states and authorized tribes where the discharge would originate, are responsible for issuing such water quality certifications. 

In accordance with the 2023 Clean Water Act Section 401 Improvement Rule, water quality certifications must be issued for each federal permit or license. When a single certification is issued for a bridge project, that certification should list all the federal permits covered—typically that includes the U.S. Army Corps (USACE) Clean Water Act section 404 permit as well as the Coast Guard bridge permit issued under the General Bridge Act of 1946. If you already have a water quality certification that doesn’t include coverage of the Coast Guard permit, then ask the certifying authority for written confirmation that the certification also applies to the Coast Guard permit. In some circumstances, the certifying authority may require an additional water quality certification application. The best way to avoid this extra work is to include all federal agencies in the pre-filing meetings and initial water quality certification application. 

For projects that fall under a USACE Nationwide Permit and the regional conditions include the water quality certification, please note that such a certification only covers the USACE 404 permit. For that situation, we recommend applicants engage with the certifying authorities to confirm whether or not a separate water quality certification application is required for the Coast Guard bridge permit. Either way, the Coast Guard needs a copy of the water quality certification and confirmation from the certifying authority that it applies to the Coast Guard permit.

Information on Section 401 of the Clean Water Act is available on the Environmental Protection Agency’s website: https://www.epa.gov/cwa-401.   

If you have any questions related to Coast Guard bridge permitting, operations, construction or maintenance coordination, please reach out. General information on the Coast Guard Bridge Program, as well as links to other useful content, can be found on our home page: www.dco.uscg.mil/Office-of-Bridge-Programs/. Coast Guard contacts are available on the District Bridge Contacts page.