Wastewater Permit And Compliance Overview

Overview of Clean Water Act 



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Overview of the Clean Water Act and underlying programs. Clean Water Act; CWA; wastewater; NPDES; pretreatment permit; water quality standards; permit limits; effluent guidelines; effluent standards; waters of the US, water quality criteria, SPCC rule

General Permits For Wastewater Proposed By IDNR

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has proposed two general discharge permits to cover two types of common and generally low risk discharges.

DNR plans to issue two new National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) general permits known as General Permit #8 (GP8) and General Permit #9 (GP9). GP8 allows for discharges of hydrostatic test water (water used to test the integrity of a pipe or tank), underground storage tank ballast water (water used to weight a tank to facilitate underground installation), and water associated with installation, repair, and replacement of potable water lines. GP9 allows for discharges from dewatering associated with construction and small residential geothermal heating and cooling systems.

IDNR is proposing to include eligibility criteria and Best Management Practices. These will ensure that discharges will comply with water quality standards. Most permittees will be automatically authorized to discharge. Only a few higher-risk dischargers will need to submit a Notice of Intent. There is no fee for either permit.

DNR is seeking public comment on proposed rules that will create two new general permits. DNR will hold three public hearings across the state in March:

• Wednesday, Mar. 7, 4 p.m. at the Coralville, IA Public Library
• Thursday, Mar. 8, 4 p.m. at the Harlan, IA Public Library
• Wednesday, Mar. 14, 4 p.m. at the Urbandale, IA Public Library

Caltha LLP | Your Air Permit, Wastewater Permit, 

Storm Water Permit Partner

Hazardous Waste Management Training In Minnesota

Minnesota-based Environmental, Health & Safety Trainer

Caltha LLP, a Minnesota headquartered EH&S training and consulting company, provides training to facility employees that is required to meet State and Federal regulations, and needed to ensure sustainability, safety and liability management goals are achieved.

Training is provided in a number of flexible formats, including in-person sessions at your site, web-based "live" training, and preparation of customized training modules used by your employees at their convenience.

We provide a wide range of training programs for facilities across Minnesota, including:

SWPPP training	Annual SPCC training	HazCom training
Safety data sheet training	PPE training	Hazardous waste training -LQG
Hazardous waste training -SQG	Environmental awareness	ISO 14001 Awareness
ISO 18001 Awareness	Universal waste training	AWAIR training
HazMat DOT training	Hazard Communication	Workplace spill training

Improper Storage and Labeling of a Flammable Hazardous Waste 

Identified During Waste Audit 

Providing EH&S Training To Facilities Across Minnesota

Caltha provides training to facilities located in all parts of Minnesota and routinely leads training sessions in:

Minneapolis	St. Paul	Rochester	Duluth	Bloomington
Brooklyn Park	Plymouth	Woodbury	Eagan	Maple Grove
Coon Rapids	Blaine	Eden Prairie	Burnsville	Bemidji
St. Cloud	Marshall	Minnetonka	Edina	St. Louis Park
Moorhead	Mankato	Maplewood	Shakopee	Cottage Grove

Minnesota-based Consultant With MPCA, MnOSHA and Local Agency Knowledge

Caltha LLP maintains close ties with the key State and local agencies that oversee environmental and safety compliance programs,  including the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, Minnesota OSHA, The Metropolitan Council, who regulates wastewater in the Minneapolis- Saint Paul area, and the seven Metro area Counties (Hennepin, Ramsey, Anoka, Washington, Dakota, Carver, Scott) who regulate hazardous wastes.

Click here for more information or to request a quote on Caltha's EHS training services, including Hazardous Waste and DOT Hazardous Material certification training for hazardous waste generators.

Certified Environmental and Safety Audit in Raleigh

Caltha LLP Project Summary

Project: Multimedia EH&S Compliance Audit
Client: National Corporation
Location(s): Raleigh-Durham Region, North Carolina

Key Elements: EH&S audit, hazardous waste, air permit, hazardous material storage, wastewater permit, hazard communication

Overview: Caltha staff conducted a multimedia environmental, health and safety audit of this industrial facility located in Raleigh-Durham Region. The scope of the audit included:

• EPCRA
• Hazardous and Solid Waste Management- 15A NCAC 13B
• Current NC Air Permit
• NC Air Pollution Control Rule – NCAC 15A-2D
• Current wastewater discharge permit
• TSCA
• Tanks
• Hazard communication
• DOT Hazardous material transportation

The audit was led by a IIA-certified professional auditor.


Click here to review other example Caltha EH&S auditing projects. Click here to review other Caltha projects in North Carolina and NC regulatory updates.

SWPPP and SWPP Training For Minnesota Residential Development

Caltha LLP Project Summary

Project: Construction Permitting, SWPPP & Training
Client: National Home Builder
Location(s): Minnesota

Key Elements: Stormwater permitting, SWPPP, Inspection training

Overview: Caltha LLP was retained by a national home builder/developer to provide technical services required for a 49-ac single family home development. Caltha staff prepared the project stormwater pollution prevention plan (SWPPP), erosion control plan, and then completed the permit application materials. Once permitted, Caltha staff provided SWPPP training to all site inspectors and subcontractors.

For more information on Caltha LLP services, go to the Caltha Contact Page

General Permits For Commercial Vessel Discharges

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is issuing two draft vessel general permits that would regulate discharges from commercial vessels, excluding military and recreational vessels. The draft Vessel General Permit, which covers commercial vessels greater than 79 feet in length, would replace the current 2008 Vessel General Permit, when it expires in December 2013. The new draft Small Vessel General Permit would cover vessels smaller than 79 feet in length and would provide such vessels with the Clean Water Act permit coverage they will be required to have as of December 2013.

Summary of Draft Vessel General Permit:
The updated permit would reduce the administrative burden for vessel owners and operators, eliminating duplicative reporting requirements, clarifying that electronic recordkeeping may be used instead of paper records, and streamlining self-inspection requirements for vessels that are out of service for extended periods. The permit will, for the first time, manage the discharge of fish hold effluent.

A key new provision of the permit is a proposed numeric standard to control the release of non-indigenous invasive species in ballast water discharges. The draft Vessel General Permit also contains updated conditions for mechanical systems that may leak lubricants into the water and exhaust gas scrubber washwater, which would reduce the amount of oil and other pollutants that enter U.S. waters. EPA will take comment on potentially more stringent requirements for bilgewater discharges.

Summary of Draft Small Vessel General Permit:
This permit would be the first under the Clean Water Act to address discharges incidental to the normal operation of commercial vessels less than 79 feet in length. The draft permit specifies best management practices for several broad discharge management categories including fuel management, engine and oil control, solid and liquid maintenance, graywater management, fish hold effluent management and ballast water management. The permit would go into effect at the conclusion of a current moratorium enacted by Congress that exempts all incidental discharges from such vessels, with the exception of ballast water, from having to obtain a permit until December 18, 2013.

Both permits will be subject to a 75-day public comment period. EPA intends to issue the final permits in November 2012 to allow vessel owners and operators time to prepare for new permit requirements.

Caltha LLP provides specialized expertise to clients nationwide in the evaluation environmental rules, developing EH&S compliance procedures, and preparing cost-effective EH&S management programs.

For further information contact Caltha LLP at

info@calthacompany.com or Caltha LLP Website

Minnesota Environmental Permit Streamlining Executive Order

Governor Mark Dayton has signed an executive order directing the Minnesota Department Natural Resources and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency to take actions to streamline environmental permitting processes used by the agencies and to better align environmental requirements with adjoining States and States within EPA Region 5.

The order requires:

“1. The Commissioners shall accelerate and simplify environmental review and permitting by enabling environmental review and permit applications to be submitted electronically.
2. The Commissioners shall establish a goal for each of their agencies to decide, within 150 days after the agency determines that an environmental or natural resource permit application is complete, whether to issue the permit. The Commissioners shall, within six months after the effective date of this order, submit to the Governor a progress report on meeting the goal and any additional administrative recommendations to further reduce decision times.
3. The Commissioners shall establish a goal for each of their agencies to decide, within 30 days after an environmental impact statement is finally approved, whether to issue the permit. The Commissioners shall promptly report to the Governor any decisions that do not meet the goal. 4. The Commissioner of the Pollution Control Agency shall, within 60 days after the effective date of this order, evaluate and report to the Governor any recommendations the Commissioner deems appropriate to amend Minnesota Statutes, section 115.07, and applicable Minnesota Rules, to be more consistent with federal regulations that, under certain conditions, permit construction to commence before a water discharge permit is issued.
5. The Commissioner of the Pollution Control Agency shall include, in any statement of need and reasonableness for rules to adopt air quality or hazardous waste or water quality standards, an analysis of proposed standards that are more stringent than similar federal standards including justification for why the standards are needed to protect public health and the environment, and a comparison to similar standards in border states and states within Environmental Protection Agency region 5”


The Executive Order will become effective 15 days after publication in the State Register and filing with the Secretary of State.

Caltha LLP provides specialized expertise to clients nationwide in the evaluation environmental rules, developing EH&S compliance procedures, and preparing cost-effective EH&S management programs.

For further information contact Caltha LLP at

info@calthacompany.com

or

Caltha LLP Website

Wastewater Discharges From Power Plants - New Rules Planned

The U.S. EPA has announced plans to revise the existing standards for water discharges from coal-fired power plants. Earlier this year, EPA completed a multi-year study of power plant wastewater discharges. This study concluded that current regulations, which were issued in 1982, have not kept pace with changes that have occurred in the electric power industry over the last three decades. As part of the multi-year study, EPA measured the pollutants present in the wastewater and reviewed treatment technologies, focusing mostly on coal-fired power plants. Many of the toxic pollutants discharged from these power plants come from coal ash ponds and the flue gas desulfurization systems used to scrub sulfur dioxide from air emissions.

Once the new rules for electric power plants is finalized, EPA and States would incorporate the new standards into wastewater discharge permits.

Caltha LLP provides expert consulting services to public and private sector clients nationwide to address water quality standards, wastewater permitting and assessing potential impacts of chemicals in the aquatic environment.

For further information contact Caltha LLP at
info@calthacompany.com
or
Caltha LLP Website

EPA Excludes Water Transfer From NPDES Requirements

EPA is publishing a final rule to exclude water transfers from regulation under the NPDES permitting program. The final rule defines a water transfer as an activity that conveys or connects waters of the United States without subjecting the transferred water to intervening industrial, municipal, or commercial use. This does not apply to pollutants introduced by the water transfer activity itself to the water being transferred.

Water transfers are activities that divert water between waterbodies, typically through the use of pumps or passive redirection through tunnels, channels, and/or natural stream water features. Water transfers are necessary to allocate water resources to meet the water needs of those downstream in the receiving waterbody. Such needs include public water supply, irrigation, power generation, flood control, and environmental restoration.

The Bureau of Reclamation administers significant transfers in western States to provide approximately 140,000 farmers with irrigation water. With the use of water transfers, the Army Corps of Engineers keeps thousands of acres of agricultural and urban land in southern Florida from flooding in former areas of Everglades wetlands. Many large cities in the west and the east would not have adequate sources of water without continuous redirection of water from outside basins. Both the cities of New York and Los Angeles are dependent on water transfers from distant watersheds to meet their municipal demand.

Caltha LLP provides specialized expertise to clients nationwide in the evaluation NPDES permitting rules, water quality standards, and preparing cost-effective compliance management programs.

For further information contact Caltha LLP at
info@calthacompany.com
or
Caltha LLP Website