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During the past year, the 2015 Industrial Stormwater
Multi-Sector General Permit (MSGP) went out on public notice and was amended,
and then approved by the commissioner. Applications
for the 2015 permit were due between July 7 and October 5, 2014. Apply
now if you have NOT applied for the 2015 permit or the No Exposure exclusion.
What’s next?
The 2015 MSGP requirements start April 5; everything related
to the 2010-2015 MSGP ends. For
permittees, this means you are done sampling within your 5-year calendar no
matter where you were at within the 5-year cycle and what your
facility-specific calendar says. In
fact, around April 5, the “old” calendars and the “old” stormwater monitoring
report forms will be removed from the web and eventually be updated with new
ones.
Cover letters and coverage cards for the 2015 permit will be
emailed to those with a valid email address (and mailed to those who don’t have
a valid email address) close to April 5.
The actual send date is not yet known.
What do you need to do now?
The current general industrial stormwater permit expires
April 5, 2015. All sampling requirements
within the 2010-2015 permit end on that date no matter what your online 5-year
sampling calendar says. The “old”
calendar and “old” Stormwater Monitoring Report forms will no longer be
retrievable. New forms are being developed and will be available at some point after
April 5.
The new permit will require all permittees with 2015 permit
coverage to start quarterly sampling July 1, 2015. There are no sampling requirements from April 5, 2015 - June 30, 2015 for
any permittee with sampling requirements under the 2015 general industrial
stormwater permit.
Changes to the 2015 permit from the 2010 permit:
1. You must obtain a minimum of four samples before averaging the results:
The industrial stormwater permit requires that facilities
collect four samples during four separate quarters before the facility’s
results can be averaged. We understand
that due to drought, frozen or natural infiltration conditions, it may take
more than four quarters to collect four samples due to “no flow”
scenarios. Please note that “I forgot to
sample” or “I didn’t know I had to sample” are not valid “no flow” explanations
and are subject to potential enforcement and penalties.
2.
Exceedances mean you must continue sampling immediately:
Once a facility collects four samples, the averaged results
will be compared with the permit’s benchmark values. If the averaged results do not exceed those
values, the facility is done sampling for the life of the 2015-2020
permit. If the averaged results exceed
the permit’s values, then the facility must continue sampling quarterly until
four quarters of averaged results are below the permit’s benchmark values.
More information about the 2015 sampling requirements and guidance will be available on
the Industrial
Stormwater Program web site after April 5, 2015.
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