On November 30, 2020, State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board) staff released a preliminary staff draft of the Statewide Construction Stormwater General Permit (Preliminary Draft General Permit). In conjunction with its release of the Preliminary Draft General Permit, State Water Board staff also announced that they will hold two public workshops regarding the preliminary staff draft. According to the Public Notice, the workshops are intended to: (1) provide stakeholders and interested parties information regarding the preliminary draft General Permit, and (2) allow stakeholders and interested parties to provide feedback to staff.
The Preliminary Draft General Permit includes:
- New requirements to implement existing Total Maximum Daily Loads;
- New regulation of passive treatment technology uses and discharges from dewatering activities;
- Updated criteria for Notices of Non-Applicability;
- Efficiency to the existing Notice of Termination process;
- Requirements to implement the California Ocean Plan, the Inland Surface Waters Plan, and statewide Trash provisions;
- Updated requirements for demolition activities;
- Updated water quality sampling requirements per the federal Sufficiently Sensitive Test Methods Rule; and
- Updated monitoring and reporting requirements.
The virtual workshops regarding the Preliminary Draft General Permit are scheduled on:
- Workshop #1 – Wednesday, December 9, 2020: 9:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
- Workshop #2 – Monday, December 14, 2020: 12:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Registration for these workshops is available via the following links: Workshop 1 and Workshop 2. For those interested in watching and not participating, the workshops will be available at the CalEPA Public Meeting Live Webcasts page at the following link.
According to the Public Notice, no evidence or formal written or oral comments will be accepted at the public workshops. Staff will, however, be considering feedback in development of the Preliminary Draft General Permit. There will be a formal notice and written comment period for the official draft Statewide Construction Stormwater General Permit reissuance, as well as a State Water Board hearing to receive oral comments, at a to-be-determined date. The State Water Board will not prepare a formal response to feedback on the Preliminary Draft General Permit. Additional information on the workshops is available on the State Water Board’s website.
Stoel’s California Water Quality practitioners will continue to monitor developments with respect to the adoption of the Draft General Permit. We will report on those developments here in the California Environmental Law Blog. If you may be subject to terms of the Preliminary Draft General Permit, we recommend that your attend one of the upcoming virtual workshops.
If you have questions regarding water resources or the potential effect of State Water Board actions on your facility, or other environmental, compliance, reporting, or permitting requirements, please contact our California water quality attorneys.
