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The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (“ADEQ”) has issued a renewed Stormwater Industrial General Permit (“IGP”).

The IGP is denominated ARR000000 and will be effective July 1, 2019.

A discharge of pollutants through a point source to a navigable water (i.e., water of the United States) must be done so pursuant to a Clean Water Act National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (“NPDES”) permit.

Stormwater from urbanized, commercial and industrial areas can mobilize pollutants that discharge into Clean Water Act jurisdictional waters. As a result, Congress enacted amendments in 1987 to the Clean Water Act and added Section 402(p). This provision directs that the United States Environmental Protection Agency establish phased NPDES requirements for certain stormwater discharges.

Federal regulations at 40 C.F.R. 122.26(b)(14)(i-11i) have been implemented for a number of years to mandate that stormwater discharges associated with specific categories of industrial activities be covered under an NPDES permit (unless otherwise excluded).

ADEQ has been delegated the Clean Water Act NPDES program. As a result, it also issues stormwater general permits including the IGP.

A general permit is designed to provide coverage for a group of similar facilities or operations of a specific industry or commercial type or group of facilities.

As ADEQ previously noted, a general permit may be appropriate:

When the discharge characteristics are sufficiently similar and a standard set of permit requirements can effectively provide environmental protection and comply with water quality standards for discharges.

The stormwater permit program includes three types of general permits:

• Industrial stormwater (i.e., the IGP)
• Municipal Separate Storm Sewer (MS4)
• Construction Stormwater Permit

The IGP includes a number of categories of industrial activity. By way of a few examples, note it covers timber products, asphalt paving, primary metals, oil and gas extraction and refining, and automobile salvage yards.

NPDES permits are reissued every five years. Consequently, this ADEQ IGP can properly be considered a reissuance or permit renewal. However, as ADEQ notes in the Fact Sheet it issued, a number of changes have been made to the IGP.

Facilities undertaking activities triggering permitting requirements under the IGP are required to submit according to the agency’s time schedule a recertification (i.e., Notice of Intent) to continue coverage. Further, stormwater Pollution Prevention Plans must be updated or modified to reflect facility changes or new or additional permitting requirements.

A link to the ADEQ page addressing the renewal IGP can be found here.